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1000 Roubles 5% FREEDOM LOAN DEBENTURE BONDS
| Issuer | Russian Provisional Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black ink on rose guilloche underprint. Central vignette shows the State Duma building in Petrograd within an oval frame flanked by laurel branches. The header bears the Cyrillic inscription ЗАЕМЪ СВОБОДЫ in bold letters, below which the denomination 5% ОБЛИГАЦІЯ ВЪ ТЫСЯЧУ РУБЛЕЙ нарицательныхъ is stated. A block of patriotic text in Cyrillic occupies the lower portion, followed by multiple printed ministerial signatures and the issue date Петроградъ, 27 марта 1917 года. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Black ink on rose guilloche underprint. The header and footer carry the repeated inscription 1917 ЗАЕМЪ СВОБОДЫ 1917. The entire face is covered with dense Cyrillic text setting out the terms and conditions of the Freedom Loan, including coupon payment schedules, redemption terms, and regulatory provisions. At the foot appear printed signatures of the State Comptroller and the Commissioner of the State Debt, along with the notation Срокъ последняго купона 16 марта 1922 года. |
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| Comments |
The Freedom Loan — Zaём Svobody — was launched in April 1917 by the Provisional Government as a desperate attempt to finance continued participation in the First World War while the army was visibly disintegrating. The appeal to revolutionary patriotism was deliberate: Kerensky personally promoted the subscription drive, framing war bonds as a civic duty of the newly liberated citizenry. The response was far weaker than hoped.
These debentures were issued in bearer form and carried detachable coupons for semi-annual interest payments — a structure that assumed institutional stability the Provisional Government never achieved. By October 1917 it was gone, and the Bolsheviks formally repudiated all Tsarist and Provisional Government debt in February 1918, rendering every outstanding bond worthless overnight.
Printed at the Petrograd state printing works under severe wartime material constraints, which accounts for the uneven inking found on many surviving examples.