50 Kopecks, Great Don Cossack Host, 1918

This copy

Accession

OM-00056

Series year

1918

Actually issued

1918–1920

ataman

not read uncertain

Handwritten facsimile, legible on the note but not resolved to a name. Compare against a published signature list.

treasurer

not read uncertain

Handwritten facsimile, legible on the note but not resolved to a name. Compare against a published signature list.

Grade

VG (IBNS)

Creased, edge damage, general wear. Estimated from the archival scan. Folds, soiling and edge condition are visible at this resolution; paper crispness, pinholes, small repairs and pressing are not. No serial or series marking located on the scan. Verify in hand before treating this as missing data.

Estimated value

$4.5 indicative

Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-07.

Dimensions

93.9 × 58.1 mm (±0.6, from the scan)

Themes

Russian Civil WarDon CossacksAtaman PlatovSmall change

The type

Type

50 Kopecks, Great Don Cossack Host, 1918

Portrait

Ataman Matvei Ivanovich Platov (1753–1818)

Printer

Treasury of the Great Don Cossack Host, Novocherkassk

Rarity

common

Inscriptions

Obverse — the ataman of 1812

Войскового Атамана Матвѣй Ивановичъ Платовъ

Host Ataman Matvei Ivanovich Platov — the Cossack commander who fought Napoleon and rode into Paris in 1814, on the money of the 1918 Don republic

Symbology

Portrait of Ataman Platov

Matvei Platov led the Don Cossack cavalry against Napoleon and rode into Paris in 1814. Putting him on 1918 money claims descent rather than novelty.

Cossack heraldry

The Don Host's own arms rather than the empire's - an autonomy resuming after two centuries of imperial interruption.

What was happening

The portrait is Matvei Ivanovich Platov, Ataman of the Don Host, who led the Cossack cavalry against Napoleon in 1812 and rode into Paris in 1814. Putting him on the money of the 1918 Don republic was a claim of descent: not a new state, the argument runs, but the old Cossack autonomy resuming after two centuries of imperial interruption.

The Great Don Cossack Host declared itself in May 1918 under ataman Krasnov, fought the Bolsheviks with German and then Allied backing, and was absorbed into the Armed Forces of South Russia. It ended with the evacuation of 1920.

A fifty-kopeck note exists because there were no coins. Metal had disappeared into hoards by 1916, and every authority in the former empire — national, regional, municipal, and individual shops — printed its own small change.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 50 Kopecks, Great Don Cossack Host, 1918 in the collection.