Assignation ruble


Assignation ruble was the first paper currency of Russia. It was used from 1769 until 1849. Assignation ruble 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 was considerably below that of the silver ruble.

History

In 1768, during the reign of Catherine the Great, the :Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance#Assignation Bank|Assignation Bank was instituted to issue the government paper-money. It opened in St. Petersburg and in Moscow in 1769. Several bank branches were afterwards established in others of the towns, called government towns. Notes of 100, 75, 50, and 25 roubles, 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 needs, leading to a shortage of silver in the treasury.
The lack of silver, and huge masses of copper coins in the Russian domestic market led to the fact that large payments were extremely difficult to implement. So this has necessitated the introduction of some kind of bills for large transactions.
The initial capital of the Assignation Bank amounted to 1 million rubles copper coins - 500 thousand rubles each in St. Petersburg and in the 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 issues of assignation ruble were emitted. Virtually all were issued across a number of years. One issue was known to have two separate series.
IssueDenomDatesComments
1769 Issue25 Rubles1769–73
1769 Issue50 Rubles1769–73
1769 Issue75 Rubles1769–73
1769 Issue100 Rubles1769–73
1774 Issue25 Rubles1774–84
1774 Issue50 Rubles1774–84
1774 Issue100 Rubles1774–84
1785–87 Issue5 Rubles1787–1802
1803–18
1785–87 Issue10 Rubles1787–1801
1803–17
1785–87 Issue25 Rubles1785–1802
1803–18
1785–87 Issue50 Rubles1785–1802
1803–18
1785–87 Issue100 Rubles1785–1801
1803–18
1802 Issue5 Rubles1802
1802 Issue10 Rubles1802–03
1802 Issue25 Rubles1802
1802 Issue100 Rubles1802
1818–43 Issue5 Rubles1819–43
1818–43 Issue10 Rubles1819–43
1818–43 Issue20 Rubles1822
1818–43 Issue25 Rubles1818–43
1818–43 Issue50 Rubles1818–43
1818–43 Issue100 Rubles1819–43
1818–43 Issue200 Rubles1819–43

Financial reforms of 1839-1843

In 1843, all Assignation rubles were withdrawn from circulation, and replaced with the state credit notes in denominations of 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 rubles.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. All this came about through the monetary reforms of 1839-43, which improved the Russian fiscal system considerably. These were the reforms of Georg von Cancrin, the Russian Minister of Finance from 1823 to 1844.