100 Roubles

The 1898 series was issued following the Witte monetary reform, which pegged the rouble to gold at a new rate and made State Bank notes legally exchangeable for coin — a credibility measure designed to attract foreign capital and stabilize Russia's chronically volatile currency. This note circulated continuously under four different signature combinations across sixteen years, each pairing reflecting a change of State Bank director while the underlying plate remained unchanged.

EZGB, the in-house imperial printing works, had produced Russian banknotes since the 1860s and kept production entirely domestic — no foreign contractors, unlike many contemporary European issues.