THE 1770S, IN retrospect, were among the most interesting times in the long history of an ancient land. Under Russian Empress Catherine II there was rarely a dull moment during that decade. It had all begun in 1769.
Because the Russian government was chronically short of ready cash, which in those days meant silver coins, the Empress ordered the issuance of paper bills of credit (assignats) in denominations of 25, 50, 75, and 100 rubles; in 1785 notes for 5 and 10 rubles were added to the list, showing that the use of paper money was a growing trend. It also coincided with a fall in the value of the assignats in terms of the silver ruble.
Increasing amounts of assignats issued after 1775 led to the gradual inflation that was to grip the country over the next several decades. By 1800 the assignat note of ten rubles was worth less than 3 silver rubles and it was not until 1839 that Czar Nicholas I managed to put the country back on the silver standard. (The system crashed again in 1855 due to the Crimean War and it was not until 1897 under Nicholas II that paper money once more played a secondary role.)
Genuine assignats of the 18th century are of the highest rarity and seldom seen even
