10 Ruble Assignat (1788)
1788 ・ paper ・ 18th century ・ Assignation Bank
A 10-ruble note from the reign of Catherine II. Each note bears the handwritten signature of an official, a paper halfway between printing and manual craft. Issuance swelled with the expenses of the Russo-Turkish War, and the promise of convertibility to copper gradually faded. In the first seventy years, seventy percent of the paper's value vanished—this is a note from partway down that slope.