1 chervonets — USSR (1937)

Photo: hex7ech · Numista
Non-commercial use only

Chervonets notes of the State Bank of the USSR, 1937 issue

The 1-chervonets note dated 1937 is a banknote of the State Bank of the USSR, the last denomination to carry the word "chervonets" and the first Soviet banknote to bear a portrait of V. I. Lenin (artist Alfred Eberling), replacing the series' earlier look of a sower and a plain guilloche. Though dated 1937, it only entered circulation in January 1938. Design by Sergei Pomansky, engraved by Alexander Blum, printed by lithography and the Orlov multicolour-registration technique. Unlike every earlier chervonets note, it carries no officials' signatures at all. Printed on unwatermarked paper, the serial number of two letters and six digits is printed twice in one of four capitalisation formats -- BIG/BIG, BIG/small, small/BIG or small/small, the rarest being the last. It remained in circulation until the 1947 currency reform and was demonetized on 14 December 1947.

Appearance

Black obverse print: the USSR coat of arms at upper left, a portrait of Lenin at right. The reverse is black print on a multicolour (blue and other tones) ground: the denomination at left, centre and right, the value written out in 11 languages at left, centre and lower right. Size: 161 × 80 mm.