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The Assignation ruble (russian: ассигнационный рубль; ''assignatsionny rubl'') was the first paper currency of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. It was used from 1769 until 1849. The Assignation
ruble
The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union.
, currencies named ''rub ...
had a parallel circulation with the silver ruble; there was an ongoing market exchange rate for these two currencies. In later period, the value of the Assignation ruble fell considerably below that of the silver ruble.
History
In 1768, during the reign of
Catherine the Great
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
, the
Assignation Bank was founded to issue the first official
paper currency
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued ...
. It opened branches in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
in 1769. Several bank branches were afterwards established in other towns, called government towns. Notes of the denominations 100, 75, 50, and 25 rubles were issued upon payment of similar sums in copper money, which were refunded upon the presentation of those paper notes.
The emergence of Assignation rubles was due to large government spending on military matters, leading to a shortage of silver in the treasury, as all financial calculations, especially in foreign trade, were conducted exclusively in silver and gold coins. This lack of silver, and the huge masses of copper coins in circulation in the Russian domestic market, led to large payments becoming extremely difficult to implement, necessitating the introduction of some form of paper currency for large transactions.
The initial circulation of the Assignation Bank amounted to one million rubles worth of copper coins, with 500 thousand rubles each in the St. Petersburg and Moscow offices; thus the total emission of banknotes was also limited to one million rubles.
Issuance of the assignation ruble
Between 1769 and 1843 five issuances of the Assignation ruble were carried out. Virtually all (except some denominations of the 1802 issue) were issued across a number of years. One issue (1785–87) was known to have two separate series.
Financial reforms of 1839-1843
In 1843, all Assignation rubles were withdrawn from circulation and replaced with the new ''state credit notes'' (Russian: ''государственные кредитные билеты'') in denominations of 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 rubles. The Assignation Bank was replaced by the State Bank, and formally ceased operations in 1848. This was part of the monetary reforms of 1839-43, which improved the Russian fiscal system considerably. These reforms were driven by
Georg von Cancrin
Count Georg Ludwig Cancrin (russian: Егор Францевич Канкрин, tr=Egor Francevič Knkrin; 16 November 1774 – 10 September 1845) was a Russian German aristocrat and as a politician best known for spearheading reforms in the Ru ...
, the
Russian Minister of Finance from 1823 to 1844.
See also
Russian ruble
''hum''; cv, тенкĕ ''tenke''; kv, шайт ''shayt''; Lak: къуруш ''k'urush''; Mari: теҥге ''tenge''; os, сом ''som''; tt-Cyrl, сум ''sum''; udm, манет ''manet''; sah, солкуобай ''solkuobay''
, name_ab ...
Notes
References
*
Shishanov V. The Assignats of 1802-1803 // Journal of the Russian numismatic society. 1999. №68. P.58-69.
External links
{dead link, date=October 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
Assignation Bank:Encyclopedia of St. Petersburg
Economy of the Russian Empire
Currencies of Russia