This cheque is accepted as payment for goods and services.
From the early 1960s, the USSR began to develop active cooperation with socialist and developing countries. Thousands of Soviet specialists were sent abroad on assignments. The government faced the question of how to “shield” them from foreign currency.
A practical need arose to create a system in which citizens would not receive currency in hand and would spend money earned in foreign currency at home.
The most important parts of the new system were the USSR Bank for Foreign Trade (Vneshtorgbank of the USSR) and the all-Union association Vnesposyltorg. In the former, citizens were required to keep their currency in the form of “invalyutny” rubles, and to spend it through the network of Vnesposyltorg shops and firms.
It is important to note that, unlike other socialist countries, currency “substitutes” in the USSR were issued not for foreigners, but for its own citizens.
A Series A tear-off cheque for sailors of the USSR Vnesheconombank (Vneshtorgbank) was a monetary obligation of Vnesheconombank (Vneshtorgbank) of the USSR to pay the amount indicated on the cheque. The cheques were bound into chequebooks of the corresponding denomination. Tear-off cheques could be exchanged for goods in port cities of the USSR in shops of the “Albatros” system run by the “Torgmortrans” organization. All cheques were printed by GOZNAK.