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Trade Voucher - 1 Franc Ural; trade check
| Issuer | Tovarishchestvo Uralsky Rynok (Ural Market Partnership) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1991 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Light blue and dark green voucher with fine guilloche underprint. Central oval vignette portrays Ibak, a Siberian Tatar khan, in traditional headdress and robes. Denomination numeral "1" appears in each corner within guilloche rosettes; two manuscript signatures below the vignette identify the board chairman and treasurer, with the commodity value inscription at foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | ТОВАРИЩЕСТВО «УРАЛЬСКИЙ РЫНОК» ТОВАРНО-РАСЧЕТНЫЙ ЧЕК 1 1 ТЮМЕНЬ, КОММЕРЧЕСКОЕ УЧИЛИЩЕ ТОВАРНОЕ ДОСТОИНСТВО ОДИН УРАЛЬСКИЙ ФРАНК (Translation: URAL MARKET PARTNERSHIP SALES AND SETTLEMENT CHECK 1 1 Tyumen, COMMERCIAL SCHOOL COMMODITY VALUE ONE URAL FRANC) |
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| Comments |
In 1991, as the Soviet ruble collapsed in purchasing power and the state distribution system disintegrated, commercial enterprises across Russia began issuing their own surrogate currency to retain customer loyalty and keep goods moving. The Tovarishchestvo Uralsky Rynok — a trading partnership operating in the Ural region — was among dozens of cooperatives and market associations that printed fractional trade vouchers denominated in francs, dollars, or other foreign units purely as internal accounting fiction. The franc denomination here carries no monetary or diplomatic significance; it was simply a hedge against quoting values in rubles that would be meaningless within weeks.
These vouchers were legally tolerated in the chaos between the August coup and formal Soviet dissolution. Most were redeemed quickly or discarded, leaving surviving examples genuinely scarce.