5000 rubles — USSR (1918)

Watermark

Photo: Daniel LeBowsky (CC BY-NC-SA) · en.numista.com

Issue history

The Pyatakov note is essentially a Provisional Government banknote: it was prepared in 1917, and the double-headed eagle without imperial regalia on the reverse follows a drawing by I. Bilibin. It was printed at the Goznak factory in Penza. Issue was planned for 1918, but the October Revolution got in the way, and the note only reached circulation in May 1919 (the 5000 and 10000 roubles in December). What makes it Soviet is only the facsimile signature of G. Pyatakov.

Blocks and cashiers

Every note carries two signatures: Chief Commissioner of the People's Bank G. Pyatakov (the same on all) and a cashier. Unlike the lower denominations, the cashier here is tied to the series letters rather than the last digit of the block number, so the table lists series ranges: the same cashier may appear on several rows, and series of different cashiers overlap. Each series was printed in 200,000 notes; the note entered circulation in December 1919. A horizontal watermark is Pick 96a, a vertical one (series БГ, БЗ, БИ, БД, БЕ) is Pick 96b.