I have a compulsion for big, beautiful bank notes. Double that if there’s history attached. In research for this video I came across the world’s largest banknote made in the last 150 years. Stay tuned to see how big that note is. Let me give you a bit of background. I was watching Ben the Coin Geek’s video “PMG Bulk Submission”. He pulled out a stack of graded 1912 Russian 500 Ruble State Credit Notes and when I saw the size of them and I had to know more, like right now more. Turns out the note is not rare and was affordable for me even for a choice uncirculated. I wound up purchasing the note from Old Pueblo Coin for a fair price – not the cheapest but it felt good supporting a local Arizona coin shop even from Minnesota.

When I was watching The Coin Geek’s video the first thing that caught my eye was how absolutely massive the Russian Credit Notes is. I had never seen anything like them. [They’re Gi-normous]. This banknote was the largest banknote printed in over 500 years in 1912. Before 1998 the record, dimensionally, for the largest paper banknote was Chinese Ming Dynasty 1 Kuan from the late 1300s. The Philippines broke the Chinese world record issuing a commemorative bank note in 1998 that’s about 14 inches by 8 and half inches with the $100,000 Piso. But in 2017 Malaysia had to grab the Guiness World Record for Largest Legal Banknote by issuing their own commemorative that was roughly 7 percent larger than the Philippines banknote! The Russia 1912 500 ruble note looks tiny against the Malaysian 600 Ringgit. All three of these giant notes will easily set you back at least three to six thousand dollars.

Speaking of Guiness World Records sidebar. As an elementary school kid my friends and I were fascinated with the Guiness Book of World Records. Whenever we were in the school’s library inevitably someone went a got the current year – because they came out every year. Books like these were our internet and we spent hours paging through them. My buddies and I were amazed by the weird and bizarre records that certainly wouldn’t be acceptable in today’s politically correct world. End of sidebar and back to the banknotes.

Ranking fourth on the record list the 1912 Russian 500 Ruble State Credit Note measures about 10¾” x 5” or 270 x 125mm. The PMG holder is 12 and half inches by 7 inches. You really get an idea of how large this note is compared to a U.S. large size bank note of the 1912 time period and they make a contemporary note look like fractional currency. For notes this size you would need a wallet the size of backpack for your walking around money. When this note was issued it was worth about $250 U.S. dollars in 1912 and could be exchanged for 15 ounces of gold.

Currency, Money, Collecting, Numismatic, Numismatist, History, Dollar, Bank note, Hobby, Coin, Gold, Silver, Unites States, Bureau of Engraving & Printing, United States Treasury, Paper Currency, Gold Certificate, Silver Certificate, Legal Tender Note, United States Note, Federal Reserve Note, Federal Reserve Bank Note, National Bank Note, Small Size Bank Notes. Czar Nicholas II. Tsar Nicholas II, World War I, Imperial Russia, Chinese Ming Dynasty 1 Kuan , Philippines $100,000 Piso, Malaysia 600 Ringgit, Russia State Bank Credit Note, Russian Revolution 1917, USSR, Soviet Union, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great

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