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500 Roubles
| Issuer | Russian State Treasury (Государственное Казначейство) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Brown and black letterpress text on light paper, with a decorative guilloche border matching the obverse. The face is largely occupied by the printed regulations governing Series CDLXXV (475) of the State Treasury bonds, set in two columns of dense Cyrillic text. The denomination 500 is printed in the upper corners, and the series title СЕРІЯ CDLXXV (ЧЕТЫРЕСТА СЕМЬДЕСЯТЪ ПЯТАЯ) appears along the lower margin. A final line records that interest accrues from 1 February 1916. |
| Reverse lettering | Положеніе о разрядѣ (серіи) билетовъ Государственнаго Казначейства за № CDLXXV (475) ПРОЦЕНТЫ НАЧИСЛЯЮТСЯ СЪ 1 ФЕВРАЛЯ ТЫСЯЧА ДЕВЯТЬСОТЪ ШЕСТНАДЦАТАГО ГОДА СЕРІЯ CDLXXV (ЧЕТЫРЕСТА СЕМЬДЕСЯТЪ ПЯТАЯ) |
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| Comments |
The Russian State Treasury's 1916 short-term obligations (краткосрочные обязательства) were interest-bearing instruments, not conventional banknotes — they paid 4% annually and were formally redeemable within a fixed term. That hybrid status made them unusual: accepted in circulation as currency but carrying the legal character of government debt. By 1916, with the imperial budget under catastrophic strain from the war and gold reserves being shipped abroad as loan collateral, the Treasury was papering over the fiscal gap with instruments like these rather than acknowledging outright monetary expansion.
The Provisional Government and later the Bolsheviks inherited and continued to accept the series, extending its effective life well beyond the regime that created it.