200 Tengas Treasury

Bukhara's paper currency was a product of extreme political instability. The Emirate had been a Russian protectorate since 1873, and by 1919 the emir, Alim Khan, was caught between Bolshevik pressure from the north and internal rebellion. These treasury notes were issued under those conditions — not as a functioning monetary instrument backed by reserves, but as an emergency measure to meet basic expenditures when the traditional monetary system was collapsing.

The Red Army overthrew the emirate in September 1920, and the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic that replaced it issued its own currency within months. Notes from the Alim Khan period had an extremely short window of legitimate use, and many were simply discarded or destroyed after the transition.