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500 Dram
| Issuer | Central Bank of Armenia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1993 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | 1 September 2005 |
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| Obverse description | The central vignette presents a vignette of Mount Ararat rendered in pale tones against a guilloche underprint, alongside a circular intaglio-style reproduction of the tetradrachm of King Tigran the Great at right. The denomination numeral "500" appears in a large red guilloche rosette at centre, with the Armenian-script denomination legend below it, and two facsimile signatures at the foot of the note flanking their respective titles. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The upper centre of the reverse carries a vignette of an open book with a quill pen resting across its pages, set against a fine multicolour guilloche underprint in green and red tones. Two large denomination numerals "500" in contrasting styles flank the centre field, with a circular guilloche rosette bearing repeated "500" microtext between them, and the Armenian-script denomination legend beneath. The bank name inscription runs across the top panel in Armenian script. |
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| Comments |
Armenia's first banknote series, issued in 1993, replaced Soviet-era rubles following independence — but the transition was neither clean nor immediate. The ruble remained in parallel use well into 1993, and the dram's introduction on November 22 of that year was delayed repeatedly by printing logistics and political instability following the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The print run of just over twelve million is modest for a primary denomination, reflecting the severe economic contraction Armenia was experiencing at the time. GDP had collapsed by roughly fifty percent since 1990, which kept actual transactional demand low despite rampant inflation.