30 Roubles, RSFSR, 1919

This copy

Accession

OM-00133

Serial

АА 004

Series year

1919

Actually issued

1919

chief_commissar_of_the_peoples_bank

G. L. Pyatakov (Г. Пятаковъ) probable

Engraved facsimile, identical across the small 1919 tokens. This series is signed by the Chief Commissar of the People's Bank, not the Commissar of Finance who signs the larger denominations.

cashier

Titov (Титовъ) probable

Short engraved facsimile, identical across the small 1919 tokens.

Grade

F (IBNS)

Moderate 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.

Estimated value

$3 indicative

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

Dimensions

87.3 × 54.2 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

Themes

Russian Civil WarHyperinflationSettlement tokenSoviet arms

The type

Type

30 Roubles, RSFSR, 1919

Printer

Goznak

Rarity

very common

Inscriptions

Obverse — the backing

Обеспечивается всем достоянием Республики

Secured by the entire property of the Republic — no gold, no exchange undertaking, only the assets of the state

Reverse — the counterfeiting penalty

Подделка преследуется по закону

Counterfeiting is prosecuted by law

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.

«Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!»

'Workers of the world, unite!' - printed on money, and on the larger notes repeated in German, French, Italian, English, Arabic and Chinese. A currency addressed to people who would never hold it.

Guilloche

The dense interlaced line-work filling the field. Engine-turned on a geometric lathe, it was the era's principal anti-counterfeiting device: reproducible only with the same machine and impossible to draw freehand or photograph cleanly.

What was happening

A raschetny znak promises nothing but "the entire property of the Republic". There is no gold clause, no exchange undertaking, no signature of a bank manager — only a People's Commissar and a cashier. It is the paper of a state that had stopped pretending its money was a claim on anything.

These were printed to keep a war economy moving while the currency collapsed underneath it. Denominations climbed by orders of magnitude within months, and the 1922–24 reform eventually swept the whole issue away.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 30 Roubles, RSFSR, 1919 in the collection.