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500 Roubles 5% FREEDOM LOAN DEBENTURE BONDS
| Issuer | Russian Provisional Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on pale blue underprint with an ornate guilloche border framing the entire note. A central vignette presents the Tauride Palace (Государственная Дума) set within a classical landscape with radiating sunburst above the dome. The heading ЗАЕМЪ СВОБОДЫ (Freedom Loan) arcs above the vignette in bold Cyrillic lettering, beneath which the denomination 5% ОБЛИГАЦІЯ ПЯТЬСОТЪ РУБЛЕЙ нарицательных appears. The lower portion carries a patriotic appeal text in multiple paragraphs signed by multiple ministers, with the date Петроградъ, 27 марта 1917 года at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ЗАЕМЪ СВОБОДЫ №151210 II серія 5% ОБЛИГАЦІЯ ВЪ ПЯТЬСОТЪ РУБЛЕЙ нарицательных. ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАЯ ДУМА Петроградъ, 27 марта 1917 года. |
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The Freedom Loan — Zaём Svobody — was launched by the Provisional Government in April 1917 as a desperate bid to keep Russia solvent and in the war. Kerensky toured the country personally promoting subscription drives. The public response was mixed at best; industrialists and middle-class patriots bought in, but the peasantry was largely indifferent, and the Bolsheviks actively campaigned against it.
These debenture bonds were printed domestically at the Expedition for the Procurement of State Papers in Petrograd — the same facility that had served the Tsarist treasury. After October 1917, the new Soviet government declared the entire loan void, rendering all outstanding bonds worthless overnight.