Types / 1923
50 Kopecks, RSFSR, 1923
Государственный денежный знак РСФСР — 50 копѣекъ
common
What was happening
A banknote pretending to be a coin. The 1923 reform had cut six zeros off the currency in two steps, but the mint could not supply small change, so the state printed fractional notes on card and gave them a circular, coin-like design — wreath, denomination, state arms — so they would read as money at a glance.
The reverse carries the RSFSR arms and Proletarians of all countries, unite! around the counterfeiting warning. Within a year the chervonets reform had restored a stable currency and real coin returned; these were among the last of the improvised small change that had run continuously since 1915.
