1 Rouble, USSR, 1947
Государственный казначейский билет СССР — Один рубль
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This copy
- Accession
- OM-00036
- Serial
- мб 422014
- Series year
- 1947
- Actually issued
- 1947–1961
- Signatures
- This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.
- Grade
- F (IBNS)
Moderate circulation wear and soiling. Estimated from the archival scan. Folds, soiling and edge condition are visible at this resolution; paper crispness, pinholes, small repairs and pressing are not.
- Estimated value
- $2 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-07.
- Dimensions
- 82 × 125.3 mm (±0.5, from the scan)
- Themes
- Soviet UnionCurrency reformFifteen languagesState Treasury note
The type
- Type
- 1 Rouble, USSR, 1947
- Printer
- Goznak, Moscow
- Rarity
- very common
Inscriptions
Один рубль · Один карбованець · Адзін рубель · Бир сўм · Бір сом · ერთი მანეთი · Бир манат · Vienas rublis · Ун рублэ · Viens rublis · Бир сом · Մեկ ռուբլի · Бир манат · Üks rubla
One rouble, named once for each union republic — a federal claim printed on the smallest note in circulation, in a year when the Baltic republics named on it had been annexed for seven years
Symbology
- Soviet arms
- Hammer and sickle crossed over a globe in a wreath of wheat, with a rising sun behind - industry and agriculture, the world as the field of action, and the sunrise of a new order. It replaced the eagle entirely rather than editing it.
- Denomination in the union languages
- Repeated once for each union republic, so the number of languages on a Soviet note records how many republics the union claimed at the time of printing.
What was happening
The 1947 reform was a confiscation dressed as a currency exchange. Old roubles were swapped for new at ten to one, while wages and prices were restated at par — so savings held in cash lost ninety per cent of their value overnight, and bank deposits above a threshold were cut on a sliding scale. It was designed to destroy the money accumulated during the war, much of it in the hands of people the state regarded as speculators.
What makes the note worth looking at is the list down its face: the denomination in fifteen languages — Ukrainian, Belarusian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Lithuanian, Moldovan, Latvian, Kirghiz, Tajik, Armenian, Turkmen, Estonian — one for each union republic. It is a federal claim printed on the smallest denomination in circulation, in a year when the Baltic republics named on it had been annexed for seven years.
This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 1 Rouble, USSR, 1947 in the collection.
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