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500 Roubles
| Issuer | Azerbaijan Republic |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 151 × 96 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by an intricate Islamic-style arabesque guilloche underprint in rose and ochre tones, framed by an ornate geometric border. The Arabic-script issuer inscription آزربايجان جومهوریتی arches across the top within a decorative cartouche, while the denomination 500 in stylised numerals appears to the left in Cyrillic (РУБЛЕЙ) and to the right in Arabic script (منات), with CINQ CENTS ROUBLES in Roman lettering across the centre. Two manuscript signatures and the date 1920 appear in the lower centre panel, with series designation Сер. ХХХ printed at the lower left and right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in softer rose and golden-brown tones with a central oval medallion bearing the large denomination numeral 500 flanked by РУБЛЕЙ to the lower left and منات to the lower right. The French-language issuer title REPUBLIQUE D'AZERBAIDJAN curves along the upper arc of the central vignette, with the Arabic denomination بيش يوز منات below it, and CINQ CENTS ROUBLES rendered in large overlapping guilloche letterpress across the centre. A multi-line Arabic-script legal tender clause appears in the lower portion within a lobed cartouche, and the serial number is printed at the lower left and right corners. |
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| Comments |
Azerbaijan's first independent republic — the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic — was collapsing precisely when this note entered circulation. Soviet forces took Baku in April 1920, and the new Bolshevik administration initially continued issuing and honoring the existing republican currency rather than immediately replacing it, creating a brief period where notes of a defunct government circulated under an occupying one. This 500 Rouble issue sits in that unsettled transition, making its political status at the moment of any given transaction genuinely ambiguous.
The ADR's entire paper money program ran barely two years, from 1919 to 1920, with most printing contracted through Baku-based facilities under difficult wartime conditions. Paper quality and printing consistency varied noticeably across the series.