Question about 3 Ruble banknote prefix "ѲН" - which issuer category?

Hello,
 

I have a question about the Russian 3 Ruble banknote (Pick #9c) with Shipov signature, dated 1905.
 

My banknote has the prefix: ѲН (Fita-N / Ѳ-Н)
 

I'm trying to determine which issuing authority it belongs to:
 

Russian Empire (prefixes ФЕ-ЧХ)
 

Provisional Government 1917 (prefixes ЧХ-ѲѲ, АА-АН)
 

R.S.F.S.R. (prefixes АО-ГѲ)
 

The problem:
 

According to the historical Cyrillic alphabet (Wikipedia and other sources), the letter Ѳ (fita) comes after Ф, in this order: ... Ф - Ѳ - Х - Ц - Ч - Ш - Щ ...
 

However, according to Colnect catalog, the prefix range "ЧХ-ѲѲ" suggests the order: Ч - Ш - Щ - Ъ - Ы - Ь - Э - Ю - Я - Ѳ (as if Ѳ comes at the end)
 

This creates a contradiction:
 

If Ѳ comes after Ф (standard alphabet), then ѲН should belong to category 1 (Russian Empire)
 

If Ѳ comes at the end (as Colnect suggests), then ѲН belongs to category 2 (Provisional Government)
 

My questions:
 

What was the actual order of the Cyrillic alphabet used for banknote serial prefixes before 1918?
 

Which category does the prefix ѲН belong to?
 

Did banknote series follow the standard alphabet order, or was there a special logic?
 

Thank you for any help!
 

Hello,

I may be able to explain this. The Numista page places Ѳ at the end as referenced in the tables of Бумажные деньги России 1898-1934 годов (The Paper Money of Russia 1898-1934) by Boris P. Pirozhkov, a highly regarded Numismatist on Russian paper money.

An example using Afanasyev's signature:

It lists the Cyrillic alphabet with Ѳ coming at the end. When placed in the Numista catalog, it was likely something that was overlooked and not stated as an exception to the normal alphabetical order. The information on the Numista page is accurate when going in the order of what is listed in Pirozhkov's book, but the lack of clarification leads to confusion in cases like this.

I also am providing a link to the note for people who have the same question to reference this thread from the note's page: N#207700

I will request that this page and the rest of the series be updated to clarify this exception to the old Cyrillic alphabet.

Daniel

Dear Daniel
Thank you very much for your help, it was a very useful information.
According to this, the prefix "ѲН" is a Provisional Government issue!

Best regards:

Gábor

I’m glad I could help, Gábor!

Dear Peter!
 

I would like to send you some information about a banknote that I think could add to your webcollection. This is the following: Mexico, 20 Pesos, 10.05.1996. #106b but SERIE X !!
 

On the website this date only starts with the Y series!