Alaskan parchment scrip

Alaskan parchment scrip was in circulation from 1816 to 1867, issued by the Russian-American Company (RAC) in the colony of Russian America.

[1] This 20-year charter granted the RAC an exclusive monopoly for any and all produce from (primarily the fur trade)[2][1][3] as well as the general administration of colonial Russian America.

[3] Each of the five main districts (New Archangel, Kodiak, Unalaska, Ross, and Northern Islands)[4] housed a RAC store which only accepted company scrip[5] and charged a 35% markup on basic commodities.

[5][9][10][11] In 1803 Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, one of the directors of the RAC, proposed the creation of a colonial currency for use in Russian America, to be printed on parchment for greater durability.

[18][19] Ted Uhl, a collector and researcher of Alaskan parchment scrip, reported that 53 notes were known in 1982.