500 Roubles, RSFSR, 1923

The sovznak of 1922 and 1923 is the last act of the hyperinflation. Two redenominations ran in quick succession — 1922 knocked four zeros off, 1923 another two — while the gold- backed chervonets was introduced alongside to do the real work. For about two years the Soviet Union ran two currencies at once: a hard one for accounting and trade, and this one, which people spent before it lost more value.

The 1924 reform retired the sovznak for good at 50,000 to one against the new rouble.