The Urals francs: history, the reason for the appearance and interesting facts

Few people have heard of such an exotic currency as the Urals francs. Nevertheless, in the early 90s of the last century banknotes were printed, and even permission was received from the government of the Russian Federation to put them into circulation. Let's find out what the Ural francs are. The history of this currency, as well as its future fate, will be devoted to this review.

Reasons for introducing a regional currency

First of all, we will find out why the idea arose to issue the Ural francs. The economy of Russia after the collapse of the USSR was in a rather deplorable state. This was due to both the loss of economic ties with other former republics, and the breakdown of the outdated system. There was observed such a phenomenon as quite high inflation growth rates, but at the same time combined with a shortage of money supply in the country.

It was this state of affairs in the minds of some people that gave birth to the idea of issuing a private currency that would be in circulation in parallel with the ruble. This would solve the problem of the money supply shortage. Moreover, at the time there was no law in the Russian legislation that explicitly banned such a financial experiment.

Regarding the Sverdlovsk region in particular, there was another factor that fueled the idea of creating a new currency. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, many regions of Russia wanted to get a greater level of independence, including economic. In particular, in the Sverdlovsk region there was the idea of creating the Urals republic within the Russian Federation. Own money should further promote both the economic independence of the region, and the promotion of autonomist ideas among the local population. However strange this may seem, even such a factor did not greatly disturb the executive in the Kremlin.

Initiative introduction

The initiator of the introduction of the new currency was the local politician and businessman Anton Alekseevich Bakov, as well as a group of young people supporting him.

The name "Ural francs" was invented by analogy with the Swiss franc, considered the standard of stability and hardness of the currency.

In 1991, an appeal was sent to the Kremlin, in which the initiators were asked to give permission for the issuance of a new currency. Oddly enough, the head of the government Yegor Gaidar approved this initiative and sent an appropriate response to the region, and the State Bank and the Ministry of Finance ordered not to obstruct the experiment.

Printing

How did the Urals francs print? The sketch of banknotes was prepared by the local architect Sofya Demidova. Immediate printing was carried out in 1991 at the printing factory in the city of Perm "Gosznak". The customer was LLP "The Urals market".

A total of 1930000 banknotes of various denominations were printed. The total amount was 56 million Ural francs. The cost of all the work done to create Ural money was about 20 thousand dollars.

Appearance

Now find out what the Urals franc looked like (1991).

Eight types of denominations of denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 francs were issued, each of which was 80 mm in width and 145 mm in length. It should be noted that such a variety of denominations could not be represented even at that time by the Russian official currency. For example, the first denomination of 1000 rubles was issued only in 1992. Thus, the Urals francs were supposed to provide the population with a need for money of various denominations.

The seal was made on very high-quality paper, and the decoration of banknotes can be attributed to a real work of art. In addition, each denomination had nine degrees of protection, which meant that there was a level of security against forgery along with securities.

On the front side of the banknotes was depicted one of the outstanding natives of the Urals, famous for political, cultural or scientific fields. For example, on a denomination of 1 franc, the Siberian Khan Ibak was depicted. The reverse side of the Ural francs was decorated with one of the sights of the cities of the Urals and adjacent regions (Tyumen, Zlatoust, Nevyansk, Perm, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Votkinsk, Tobolsk).

End of the experiment

Despite such a thorough work done to issue banknotes and the Russian government's permission to use them, the experiment, in fact, ended, never having begun.

After the bills were printed and delivered from Perm by helicopter to Sverdlovsk, they were transferred to storage in one of the local bank branches. The authorities of the Sverdlovsk region did not dare to introduce banknotes into circulation.

In 1993, the Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted, clearly saying that the only currency of the country can be only the Russian ruble, which is issued exclusively by the Central Bank, and nobody else. Thus, the use of local currencies was considered illegal. After that, there was no question of putting the Ural francs into circulation.

Second Life

Nevertheless, after a while some of the printed banknotes still found application. In 1997, bills were used at a metallurgical plant in the city of Serov (Sverdlovsk region) as a means of calculation in the store and in the canteens. This was due to the fact that Anton Bakov became the general director of this enterprise.

In total, 1 million banknotes worth 1 to 50 francs were issued in intra-plant circulation.

After the local law enforcement agencies became interested in such a walk, a stamp on "Stamps for food" was stamped on banknotes at the order of the plant administration. This step helped to avoid accusations of illegal money laundering.

After in 2000, Bakov was removed from the management of the enterprise, the new administration decided to abandon the use of francs as food stamps. After that, to the present day inclusive, the Urals francs did not take part in the commodity-money turnover. Their history as a monetary unit was completed.

Fakes

Despite the fact that the Ural francs never became full-fledged money, which had at least regional significance, nevertheless, the desire to sell bills as a souvenir created a variety of fakes. But far from all the Ural francs are fake. How to distinguish real banknotes from counterfeit notes?

First of all, you need to take into account that in circulation only banknotes of 50 francs and less were launched. Thus, only denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 Ural francs in the hands of the population can be real. Banknotes of any other denomination - 100% fake.

People who are a little familiar with banking can also distinguish real bills from forgery by determining the presence of degrees of protection, including watermarks.

There are also "Ural francs" with the stamp of the "Collectors' Club of Ekaterinburg", but they are not really related to real banknotes issued in 1991 and are just a souvenir. The authenticity of the francs with the stamps of the All-Russian Society of Disabled People, as well as some other organizations, is also questionable.

The result of the experiment

Many years after the attempt to introduce the Urals francs into the economic system of the region, we can draw some conclusions. Of course, due to the indecisiveness of local authorities, this experiment can not even be called unsuccessful. In fact, before the launch, it was suspended, and then due to the change in Russian legislation it was completely closed. The use of banknotes as coupons in the in-house circulation is just an attempt to apply already printed bills in circulation in any way. But in no way this application is comparable to the original task - to become a regional currency used in a separate region on a par with the Russian ruble.

At present, the history of the Urals franc can only be regarded as one of many non-embodied experiments in the transition period after the collapse of the USSR. In the modern Russian legal field, the introduction of a regional currency is even theoretically impossible.