500 Roubles Blagoveshchensk

The Blagoveshchensk Branch issued these notes during the extraordinarily confused period when the Russian Far East was contested between Bolshevik forces, White Army factions, and Japanese interventionist troops simultaneously occupying parts of Amur Oblast. Local branch managers of the old State Bank found themselves issuing emergency scrip not out of monetary policy but sheer necessity — central supply lines for printed currency had collapsed entirely.

The hand stamp is the authentication. Without it, the note was invalid — a rare case where the security feature was also the sole issuing mechanism.