Voucher - 50 Roubles 1994

Tuvacobalt was the Soviet-era cobalt and nickel mining operation in Tuva — the former Tuvan People's Republic, absorbed into the Russian SFSR in 1944. By the early 1990s, like dozens of remote industrial enterprises across the collapsing federation, the combine faced a hard-currency drought severe enough that paying workers in scrip became a practical necessity rather than an ideological choice. These vouchers circulated internally, redeemable at the company store against wages that the broader monetary system could no longer reliably deliver.

Tuva's geographic isolation — the republic has no rail connection — made the problem worse than in most comparable regions.