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500 Roubles Tomsk
| Issuer | Tomsk Branch of the State Bank (Томское Отделение Государственного Банка) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | The note is a cheque-format emergency issue with a decorative border composed of Art Nouveau-style corner ornaments. The central text, printed in Cyrillic letterpress, identifies the issuing branch and denomination, with the figure 500 рублей rendered in a bold display typeface. A light guilloche underprint incorporating a circular vignette with intertwined scrollwork occupies the centre field, alongside manuscript signatures of the Управляющий (manager) and Контролёр (controller) with the date 1918 года. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Томское Отделение Государственного Банка ЧЕКЪ на 500 руб. Предъявителю сего чека Томскимъ Отделеніемъ Государственного Банка уплачивается пятьсотъ рублей Управляющій Контролёръ 1918 года |
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| Comments |
The Tomsk Branch of the State Bank issued this note during the civil war period when Siberia was under the control of anti-Bolshevik forces — specifically the Provisional Siberian Government, which held Tomsk through mid-1918 before the Kolchak regime consolidated authority. Regional branches were issuing their own obligations partly because supply lines to central printing facilities had collapsed entirely, and the Romanov-era monetary system had already been gutted by wartime inflation and revolution.
Local production meant crude printing by any standard. Tomsk had no facility remotely comparable to the Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers in Petrograd, and it shows. These notes circulated hard in a city that was simultaneously a major military staging point and a university town with a large refugee population.