25 Roubles, Rostov-on-Don, 1918

This copy

Accession

OM-00025

Serial

АЖ 79

Series year

1918

Actually issued

1918–1920

manager

R. E. Gulbin (Гульбинъ) probable

Engraved facsimile, identical across every Rostov note in the collection. R. E. Gulbin managed the Rostov-on-Don office of the State Bank and initiated its 1918 emergency issue.

cashier

Chepurov (Чепуровъ) probable

Engraved facsimile, identical across every Rostov note. Read at 600 dpi; not yet confirmed against a published signature list.

Grade

F (IBNS)

Soiling, general circulation wear. Estimated from the archival scan. Folds, soiling and edge condition are visible at this resolution; paper crispness, pinholes, small repairs and pressing are not.

Estimated value

$6.5 indicative

Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-07.

Dimensions

147.6 × 90.5 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

Themes

Russian Civil WarRegional issueWhite movementAllegorical figure

The type

Type

25 Roubles, Rostov-on-Don, 1918

Printer

Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers (Goznak)

Rarity

common

Inscriptions

Obverse — the branch's own warrant

Настоящій денежный знакъ выпущенъ Ростовской н/Д Конторой Государственнаго Банка и имѣетъ хожденіе наравнѣ съ Государственными кредитными билетами

This token is issued by the Rostov-on-Don Office of the State Bank and circulates on a par with State Credit Notes — a branch asserting, on its own authority, that its paper is as good as the state's

Symbology

Double-headed eagle, crownless

The same eagle with the crowns, orb and sceptre stripped off - redrawn for the Provisional Government in 1917 by Ivan Bilibin, and nicknamed the 'chicken' for its plucked look. It is a state trying to stay continuous with what came before while disowning the part everyone objected to. The Soviets kept it unchanged for years afterwards.

Bogatyrs and classical figures

Russian epic warriors alongside classical allegory. Unusually fine engraving for emergency money, because the Expedition's craftsmen had scattered south with everyone else.

«Россія Единая Великая Недѣлимая» watermark

'Russia, One, Great, Indivisible' - the White movement's slogan, worked into the paper of a note issued by one city.

What was happening

The Rostov-on-Don office of the State Bank printed this because the centre had stopped functioning and the Don region needed money.

The note argues its own case in its main text: this token is issued by the Rostov office of the State Bank and circulates on a par with State Credit Notes. That sentence is a branch of a central bank asserting, on its own authority, that its paper is as good as the state's — because there was no longer a state in a position to say otherwise.

Rostov was the base of the Volunteer Army and later the seat of the Armed Forces of South Russia. These notes circulated alongside VSYUR treasury notes, imperial paper and Soviet issues, and their acceptance tracked which army held the city.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 25 Roubles, Rostov-on-Don, 1918 in the collection.