The National Bank of Ukraine has issued four banknote series since 1996. All banknotes in denominations of ₴20, ₴50, ₴100, ₴200, ₴500, ₴1,000 and ₴2,000 issued after 2003 (of the third and fourth series) are considered legal tender. All of them depict an important person in Ukraine's history on the obverse and a landmark place on the reverse. The ₴1, ₴2, ₴5, ₴10 denominations are no longer being considered legal tender and are intended to be gradually substituted by coins, though they remain common. There have been four commemorative banknote issues.
History In Ukraine's history, banknotes denominated in Ukrainian hryvnias (; ISO 4217 code: UAH, symbol: ₴) have been issued during two periods. The first of them took place in 1918 and 1919, when the Central Council of Ukraine decided to transition to hryvnia from karbovanets (), another currency that circulated in various periods of the country's history. In practice, the currencies were interchangeable. It became obsolete as the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic lost control over its claimed territory as a result of the defeat in the Ukrainian War of Independence.
This article covers all hryvnia banknotes issued, or planned to be issued, by government authorities as well as some local issues. Shah () stamps as subdivisions of hryvnia and interest coupons denominated in hryvnias and shahs are covered here because they were also printed on paper.
The second period when Ukrainian hryvnia banknotes appeared was in the times of post-Soviet independence. In 1991–1996, karbovanets was circulating in newly independent Ukraine, but the currency experienced hyperinflation. The first post-independence hryvnia banknotes were printed in Canada and Malta in 1992. In September 1996, they entered circulation, following their by hryvnia at a rate of 100,000:1. All issues of hryvnia banknotes that have been printed in 1994 and later were made in Ukraine.
Notes issued in Ukraine, including hryvnia notes, can be viewed at the Museum of Money of the National Bank of Ukraine in Kyiv.
Ukrainian War of Independence During the later half of 1917, the Central Council of Ukraine sought to gain more autonomy from the Russian Republic, which was ultimately asserted at the Third Universal, establishing the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). With the creation of a new state entity, the country's need for its own currency became urgent. In December 1917, the UNR introduced karbovanets as a stopgap measure, until the law of 1 March 1918 installed hryvnia as official currency. The exchange rate was 2 hryvnias to 1 karbovanets issued in 1917. It was defined by law to be convertible to gold at a rate of 1 hryvnia = 8.712 dolya (0.3833 grams, or about 0.012324 oz t). The hryvnia was subdivided into 100 shah.
Since karbovanets currency was circulating at par with the Russian ruble/Soviet ruble until late 1918, it could not be worth more than them, and the rubles were rapidly depreciating. Legislative efforts to limit or outright ban the usage of Russian currencies in Ukraine had limited success. Aggravating the situation was a lack of gold reserves. This meant that the hryvnia was also losing value very quickly. Even though Ukrainian currency was spared from the worst of the hyperinflation, maintaining the gold standard proved unfeasible.
1918
State Credit Notes The law of 1 March 1918 envisaged printing denominations of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 hryvnias, which officially called State Credit Notes (). On 24 March 1918, the UNR signed an agreement to print banknotes via the Reichsdruckerei, the German state banknote printer. There were some problems with the contractor. Despite ordering 16,000,000 5-hryvnia notes and 9,000,000 20-hryvnia notes, these were not printed. 50-hryvnia notes were not contracted at all.
All of the submitted designs of Ukrainian hryvnia banknotes were tampered with in Germany, changing colours without the permission of designers or the government. Heorhiy Narbut, who drew the design of the 500-hryvnia note, lamented their poor quality. The Ukrainian State decided to forego 5-hryvnia and 20-hryvnia bills in favour of a new denomination of 2,000 hryvnia, which the Ukrainian government was formally not authorised to issue.
All banknotes contain the following text on the reverse: " ~ ~ ", as mandated by law (later referred to as "State Credit Note notice"). The gold standard notice was also printed, which read: "(One) hryvnia contains 8.712 dolya of pure gold" (). All banknotes had anti-counterfeiting protections, such as a watermark and guilloche pattern. Image Value Dimensions (mm) Main colour Description Date ofIssued value (quantity ordered) Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse Designer order issuelapse 2 hryvni 108 × 70 Green, blue Denomination, tryzub, name of state ("УКРАЇНСЬКА НАРОДНЯ РЕСПУБЛІКА"). Centre: Gold standard notice and karbovanets exchange notice ("") arranged in a tree-like pattern. Denomination and decorative pattern; State Credit Note notice inside a rhombus-like shapeVasyl Krychevsky 24 March 1918September or October 19181920>5,5 million hryvnias (ordered 15 million banknotes) 10 hryven'139 × 89 RedDenomination, tryzub inside a plant ornament, name of state ("УКРАЇНСЬКА НАРОДНЯ РЕСПУБЛІКА"). Gold standard notice at the banknote's bottomDenomination, name of state and State Credit Note notice in a blank rectangle; all inside a decorative frame.Heorhiy Narbut? (ordered 12 million banknotes) 100 hryven'175 × 115 Blue and violetDenomination (in numbers), name of state ("УКРАЇНСЬКА НАРОДНЯ РЕСПУБЛІКА"). Figures of two peasants (woman to the left, man to the right); between them a wreath, inside which a tryzub and denomination (in words) are located; gold standard notice at the bottom.A rich plant ornament with tryzub in the middle, extending between two Greek columns; State Credit Note notice in a blue rectangle and abbreviation of the state's name (У.Н.Р.) at the bottom.427,989,300 hryvnias (ordered 3.5 million banknotes) 500 hryven'185 × 119 Blue, orangeName of state ("УКРАЇНСЬКА НАРОДНЯ РЕСПУБЛІКА") at the top. A woman's head with a wreath on her head (personification of Ukraine), with radially extending rays; tryzub inside a plant ornament on either side of the banknote; gold standard noticeA large tryzub with text of the State Credit Note notice overlaid over it; four more tryzubs in each corner of the banknote; denomination spelt twice on each side of the banknote.1,683,500 hryvnias (ordered 340,000 banknotes)1,000 hryven'196 × 125 Bright orange, blueName of state ("УКРАЇНСЬКА ДЕРЖАВА") at the top; denomination spelt in words and numbers; tryzub in the background; all surrounded by a frame with triglyphsDenomination in large characters; State Credit Note notice and gold standard notice to its left; all surrounded by decorative frame, with "1000" interspersed in it.After 29 April 191817 October 1918? (ordered 70,000 banknotes)2,000 hryven'204 × 134Red, greenName of state ("УКРАЇНСЬКА ДЕРЖАВА") at the top; denomination spelt in words and numbers; tryzub in the background; all surrounded by a decorative frameDenomination in large characters; State Credit Note notice and gold standard notice to the bottom; all surrounded by decorative frame?
State Treasury Notes
On 30 March 1918, the Central Council of Ukraine approved a release of 100 million karbovanets worth of State Treasury Notes (). The sum was increased to 500 million karbovanets on 12 May, which was doubled on 9 July 1918. Yakiv Zozulya attributes such rapid increases to a seemingly clientelist agreement with Austria-Hungary and German Empire, whereby Ukraine granted a 200 million karbovanets "unlimited-term loan" to each of these countries. On the other hand, Pavlo Hay-Nyzhnyk said the money was needed to revive the country's economy anyway.
In essence, State Treasury Notes were 4-year treasury bonds issued in denominations of 50, 100, 200 and 1,000 hryvnias. They yielded 3.6% simple interest per annum paid every six months, on 1 July and 2 January. They had a unified design prepared by Heorhiy Narbut, with a roughly square centre, where the value of the bond was written, plus four coupons on either side of the note, worth respectively 0.90, 1.80, 3.60 and 18 hryvnias each. The only feature that was different between each of these bonds was colours. Due to the enormous size of the notes, as well as due to the location of coupons, they were nicknamed "airplanes" ().
The coupons and the notes were not formally intended to be legal tender in the sense that the possibility to redeem them at banks was limited by the dates in coupons. In practice, due to an acute shortage of small change, these pieces of paper were readily cut out and circulated as plain currency. Even government agencies accepted both the notes and the coupons for payments. The coupons and the State Treasury Notes were thus described as "surrogate banknotes". Image Value (note) Value (coupon) Dimensions (mm) Colour Description Date of Obverse Reverse PaperInk Obverse Reverse order issuelapse 50 hryven'90 shahiv (0.90 hryvnia) 294 × 150 (full); 150 × 150 (note without coupons); 75 × 37 (coupons) GreenishRed, violet Centre: Inside the frame containing an intricate plant ornament with numbers corresponding to denomination on its left and right sides, a tryzub on the top side and an inscription "" on the bottom side, the note's denomination spelled in letters, the type of note, signatures and serial numbers.
Coupons: Inside a frame, inscriptions: "", "", the date (from 1 July 1918 up to 2 January 1922, with semiannual intervals), the number noting the order when coupons become mature, and the respective denomination of the coupon Inside a frame with denomination in numbers spelled at its corners, text of the 1918 Directive on the State Treasury Notes. Denominations printed at the place of coupons. 30 March 19185 August 19181920 100 hryven'1.80 hryvnia OrangeBlue, green 200 hryven'3.60 hryvnia TurqoiseOrange 1000 hryven'18 hryvnias OchrePink
Shahivky fractional currency Shahivky (шагівки) were named so after shah, the subdivision of hryvnia, and served as small change because of the strong deficit of metals to mint coins. On 18 April 1918, the government authorised to issue paper "coins" of 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 shahiv. The first four denominations have never been issued, nor are they known to have ever been printed. According to various estimates, the other five shahivky accounted for about 24-38 million hryvnia in circulation. Among those issued, the 30 shahiv stamp was rarer than the other denominations.
Shahivky were postage stamp-sized, and they were sometimes used as postage stamps due to the dearth of "real" postage stamps. Unlike the postage staps, which were all imperforate, the five pieces of postage stamp currencies were usually . 40 and 50 shahiv imperforate stamps are known to exist but are much rarer than the perforated versions. The currency was printed on thicker paper than the stamps, and the notice saying that the post stamps "circulate alongside metal coinage" appeared on the reverse, unlike in stamps, where the other side was blank. Due to their weak protections, shahivky were often counterfeited, particularly the top two denominations.
Due to their lightness and their propensity to be blown away by the wind, they earned a tongue-in-cheek nickname of "butterflies" (). They were also known as "postage stamps" () in reference to their size and appearance. The shops of the time were known to give out change in bundles of hundreds of such stamp "coins". Image Value Dimensions