25 Ruble Assignat (1769)

In 1769, Catherine II issued Russia's first banknotes. This is a 25-ruble note from that first year. The motivation was not idealistic, but rather the excessive weight of copper coins and war expenses—one hundred rubles in copper was something to be hauled, not counted. Initially, convertibility to copper coins was guaranteed. The fate of this promise would become the story of the next seventy years.