3 rubles — USSR (1961)

Watermark

Stars over the whole field.

There is no watermark photo yet. Share a watermark photo

Special facts

The 3-ruble note of the 1961 series went through just five issues — noticeably fewer than the 1-ruble note of the same series. Unlike it, this denomination never saw any printing-method experiments: the whole run was consistently printed by intaglio on the obverse and Orlov printing on the reverse, and the watermark stars always tilt the same way.

Printing defects

Occasional interesting manufacturing defects turn up on 1961-series 3-ruble notes. One of the most notable is a doubled image caused by a double intaglio printing pass. There are also examples with ink bleeding during intaglio printing, and notes with a paper-manufacturing defect — watermark stars stretched out of proportion along the diagonal.

Watermark

Photo: Daniel LeBowsky (CC BY-NC-SA) · Numista
Non-commercial use only

Stars across the note.

Font

Font 1 on top, font 2 below.

Paper type

1961-series notes were printed on two types of paper. The first is matte, greyish-yellow, and is less common. The second is white, glossy on one side, and is far more common. Different denominations switched paper type at different issues. Telling them apart by eye is difficult — it's more reliable to compare several notes side by side.

Other items of the period

• 1 kopeck (1961–1991) Y# 126
• 2 kopecks (1961–1991) Y# 127
• 3 kopecks (1961–1991) Y# 128
• 5 kopecks (1961–1991) Y# 129
• 10 kopecks (1961–1991) Y# 130
• 15 kopecks (1961–1991) Y# 131
• 20 kopecks (1961–1991) Y# 132
• 50 kopecks (1961) Y# 133a.1
• 50 kopecks (1964–1991) Y# 133a.2
• 1 ruble (1961) Pick# 222
• 1 ruble (1961) Y# 134a.1
• 1 ruble (1964–1991) Y# 134a.2
• 3 rubles (1961) Pick# 223
• 5 rubles (1961) Pick# 224
• 10 rubles (1961) Pick# 233
• 25 rubles (1961) Pick# 234
• 50 rubles (1961) Pick# 235
• 100 rubles (1961) Pick# 236