25 rubles — RSFSR (1918)

Photo: American Bank Note Company, via Wikimedia Commons

Credit notes of the American Bank Note Company

The notes of 1918–1919 ordered by the Provisional Government in September 1917 from the American Bank Note Company in New York: the order for the 25 and 100 roubles was huge. The work dragged on until the spring of 1919, and the notes reached Vladivostok already in the hands of the local authorities. They circulated in Siberia and the Far East in 1919–1920, signed and unsigned, with the shield overprint of Transbaikal and the round stamp of the Far Eastern Republic; one variant (series ГИ and БИ) came into the hands of Denikin in the south of Russia but was not put into circulation. Part of the 50-kopeck issue reached Omsk. The 50, 250, 500 and 1000 roubles dated 1919 were never issued and are known only as specimens and trials.

Appearance

Twenty-five-rouble credit note of 1918, American print. The front shows an ancient Roman goddess against a panorama of a city; around her the denomination, "ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ КРЕДИТНЫЙ БИЛЕТЪ", the date and the statement of the gold content of the rouble as before the revolution. The back carries the arms of the Provisional Government (a double-headed eagle without the symbols of tsarist power), the Tauride Palace and the denomination in large type. Size 149 × 85 mm. Variants are known signed by the manager and the cashier (the signatures are overprinted in two places on the front) and unsigned, with the shield overprint "ВРЕМЕННАЯ ЗЕМСКАЯ ВЛАСТЬ ПРИБАЙКАЛЬЯ" (1920) and with the round stamp of the Far Eastern Republic (Vladivostok, 1920), series ГИ with two signatures on the front, and "SPECIMEN" specimens.

Other banknotes of the period

• 50 kopecks (1918)
• 25 rubles (1918)
• 50 rubles (1919) — Specimen
• 100 rubles (1918) Pick# 40
• 250 rubles (1919) — Specimen
• 500 rubles (1919) — Specimen
• 1000 rubles (1919) — Specimen