* The Russian Empire began issuing paper currency since the late 18th century. However, most collectors of Russian currency begin their collections at one key date: 1898. The significance of this particular date is simple: In 1898, Czar Nicholas II and the Stat Bank recalled a large portion of the banknotes printed before the year 1898 in an effort to curb the debt of the Russian Empire and reduce the total Rubles in circulation: From November of 1897 to January of 1898, 109 million Rubles issued before 1898 were burned by the State as part of the recall. Once this decree was executed, the State Bank issued the new Ruble banknotes, starting with the 1 Ruble note of 1898 with a design different than ones previously printed.
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As a result of this decree and massive liquidation of banknotes, all Russian banknotes printed before the year 1898 instantly became rare. Banknotes printed starting from 1898 can be found for a low or moderate price, while those printed a few years before or even a few decades earlier are sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars due to their rarity. *
One of the keys needed for those interested in banknotes of the Imperial Russian period is knowledge of the signatures of the State Bank (or Mint) "Directors." Since the dates printed on the banknotes do not represent the year those notes were printed (but instead represent the date on which a particular note and its design were first introduced into circulation), the signatures of the Directors are the only clues to a note's origin. There are four that concern collectors: Pleske, Timashev, Konshin, and Shipov.
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Each signature designates a particular era of the State Bank. A note bearing a particular signature is interpreted to have been printed in the corresponding range of years.
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Each signature also has a different value. The Shipov signature, being farthest away chronologically from the recall of 1898 and the beginning of the Revolution, is the most common and least valuable. On the other hand, most banknotes with a Pleske signature or a Timashev signature are the rarest since his time in office falls closest to the 1898 recall and furthest away from the Revolution (an exception is the 1898 1 Rouble note with the longer serial, in which the rarest signature by far is the Konshin one, with Pleske being slightly rarer than Shipov).
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Each banknote printed from 1898 to 1912 also has the "Cashier" signature next to the Director's signature. Most collectors only pay attention to the Director's signature, since that one gives a clue about the date, but a small minority of collectors also collect by Cashier signature. Although the Cashier signature does not influence the date, the Cashier signature is a small variant from one banknote to another that some find interesting to collect. There are 40 different Cashier's signatures, and they are all arranged in this chart:
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