25 Roubles

Azerbaijan's Democratic Republic — the first parliamentary democracy in the Muslim world — lasted barely two years before Soviet forces absorbed it in April 1920. This 25 Rouble note was issued during that brief window of independence, when the Baku government was simultaneously fighting Bolshevik pressure from the north, navigating British occupation interests, and trying to establish functional monetary infrastructure essentially from scratch.

The series was printed locally under difficult conditions, which accounts for the uneven impression quality commonly encountered across the P#1 through P#4 issues.