Catalog
25.000 Rubley
| Issuer | State Treasury of Russia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | White paper note with a large numeral '25000' in dark green intaglio at left, flanked by an ornate oval guilloche vignette with a small imperial eagle device. The central field carries the main text block in Cyrillic letterpress, identifying this as a 5% short-term State Treasury obligation redeemable on 1 July 1918, payable at the State Bank and its branches. At bottom left, a printed serial number prefixed 'No' appears in black, with the issue date 'Петроград, 1 Іюля 1917 г.' and manuscript signatures of the Director of the State Treasury Department and the Chief Accountant. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed with a uniform dense geometric guilloche micropattern in pale brown across the entire surface, providing a security underprint with no central vignette or additional lettering, aside from faint diagonal text watermark-style inscriptions visible in the upper right area. |
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| Comments |
This is one of the large-denomination notes rushed into production by the Provisional Government after the February Revolution, as the tsarist financial apparatus collapsed and war expenditure continued to hemorrhage resources. The State Treasury had been printing at a deficit for years; by late 1917, new issues were being absorbed by inflation almost as fast as they were distributed.
The 25,000-ruble denomination — unthinkable before the war — reflects how severely the ruble had deteriorated by the time the Bolsheviks seized power in October. Many notes from this series circulated briefly in multiple competing jurisdictions as regional governments and White Army administrations continued to honor or refuse Treasury paper on local terms.