5 Silver Roubles

The Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers (EZGB) was the Russian state's own security printing house, established in 1818 specifically to bring banknote production under direct government control — ending a prior dependence on foreign printers. These 5 Rouble credit notes, issued across a span of more than two decades under Nicholas I and into Alexander II's reign, circulated in a monetary environment where silver remained the official monetary standard and paper notes were formally convertible to it, at least in theory. Actual convertibility was intermittently suspended.

The series covered a long stretch of fiscal instability, including the enormous costs of the Crimean War, which by 1858 had badly strained convertibility commitments.