Comprising around 20 thousand items, the State Hermitage Museum holds one of the best collections of paper money that circulated over the territory of the former Russian Empire.
The first issue of Russian banknotes is represented by over ten pieces, the earliest of which is dated 1775. The national banknotes of the Russian Empire, the RSFSR and the USSR have been collected comprehensively enough and include specimens of all denominations, trial prints produced in the process of developing designs of new types, as well as specimen sheets of paper bearing water-marks. The rarest exhibits are the 100-ruble banknotes of the proposed 1802 issue, which was never implemented. The section includes also specimens of counterfeit banknotes, the most interesting of which is a selection of forged Russian banknotes made for Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812.
A special group of rare banknotes consists of stamps, whose issue was authorized by the Ministry of Finance for the Russian-American Сompany in Alaska, where the money circulated. The Hermitage collection has only 7 pieces of those.
The Civil War entailed a mass issue of banknotes by different local governments and urban authorities. During the war, some national republics were formed, which tried to create their monetary systems. Their banknotes, badly depreciated and not subject to exchange, are not rarities.
Of considerable interest is the collection of private banknotes that comprises over 5 thousand pieces. Such banknotes were issued by factories and mills, cooperatives and public organizations, shops and restaurants. The earliest of them operated on the estate of the Vsevolozhsky brothers. During the years 1917–1924, private banknotes became widespread phenomena.
A collection of lottery tickets has been added to the Museum main stock; it comprises 2,5 thousand lottery tickets covering a period from 1853 to the present time.
