a. What is the value of the total bond as originally issued in French francs, German marks, British pounds, Dutch florins, and U.S. dollars?
b. Create a chart which shows the fixed rate of exchange implied by the coupon for the six different currencies.
Annual Coupon Coupon
Currency Par Value Coupon Rate (4% of Par) (coupon/4) As described on the coupon
Russian gold roubles 125.00 4.000% 5.0000 1.2500 In St. Petersburg 1.25 Roubles.
French francs
500.00 4.000% 20.0000 5.0000 In Paris 5 Francs.
19.775 4.000% 0.7910 0.1978 In London 3 Schill. 11 and 1/2 P.
404.00 4.000% 16.1600 4.0400 In Berlin 4 Mark 4 Pf.
239.00 4.000% 9.5600 2.3900 In Amsterdam 2 Flor. 39 C.
Of all the currencies, the British pound sterling is the most difficult for calculation. At this time 12 pence = 1 schilling, 20 schiling = 1 pound sterling.
Russian French Pounds German Dutch US gold
roubles francs sterling marks florins dollars
Currency units (per rouble) (per franc) (per pound) (per mark) (per florin) (per dollar)
Russian gold roubles ———– 0.2500 6.3211 0.3094 0.5230 1.2987
French francs 4.0000 ———– 25.2845 1.2376 2.0921 5.1948
These exchange rates can then be used to calculate the total issuance value in each of the respective currencies.
Total Bond
Currency Issuance
Total issue value per rouble By Currency
Russian gold roubles ———– 113,600,000
French francs 4.0000 454,400,000
British pounds sterling 0.1582 17,971,520
These total issuance values are found by multiplying the exchange rate (Currency
c. Create a second chart which compares these exchange rates with these same exchange rates today (use either the Wall Street Journal or
Financial Times to find current exchange rates).
This is a student project, in principle, but one that is difficult to fulfill given that the French franc, German mark, and Dutch florin have all been replaced
Problem 2.15 Tsar Alexander III’s Russian Gold Loan
b. The chart or matrix of implied exchange rates is found by dividing the par values by currency. For example, French francs/Russian roubles is
found by dividing Rbl 125 by FF 500, giving an implied exchange rate of Rbl 0.2500/FF.
c. Create a second chart which compares these exchange rates with these same exchange rates today (use either the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times to
a. The value of the bond is its Par Value, as stated on the bond, assuming that the rates of interest by currency were current at the time of its
issuance. From that we can also calculate the value of each coupon (interest) payment by currency on both an annual and quarterly basis.