1 Karbovanets, City of Zhitomir, 1918

This copy

Accession

OM-00098

Serial

АИ 203344

Series year

1918

Actually issued

1918

manager

Vasilyev (Васильевъ) probable

Engraved facsimile, identical across the Zhitomir notes.

cashier

not read uncertain

Handwritten facsimile; not resolved to a name.

Grade

VG (IBNS)

Soiled and worn. 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

$4.5 indicative

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

Dimensions

117.4 × 68.7 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

Themes

Russian Civil WarMunicipal issueUkraine

The type

Type

1 Karbovanets, City of Zhitomir, 1918

Printer

Not established

Rarity

common

Inscriptions

Obverse — what stands behind it

Все выпущенные в обращение разменные билеты сполна обеспечены Государственными кредитными билетами и 5% краткосрочными обязательствами Государственного Казначейства, хранящимися в Житомирском Отделении Народного Банка

All small-change notes issued into circulation are fully secured by State Credit Notes and 5% short-term Treasury obligations held at the Zhitomir Office of the People's Bank

Symbology

City arms

Municipal heraldry in place of state arms.

What was happening

Municipal money. When the state stopped supplying currency, cities printed their own against deposits held at the local branch of the State Bank — and said so in the small print, because acceptance depended entirely on people believing that sentence.

Odessa, Zhitomir, Elisavetgrad and dozens of other towns issued these between 1917 and 1920, through repeated changes of occupying power. Some carry Ukrainian text and the karbovanets denomination, some Russian and roubles, depending on who held the city when the plates were cut.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 1 Karbovanets, City of Zhitomir, 1918 in the collection.