5 000 Roubles, RSFSR, 1919

This copy

Accession

OM-00045

Serial

АС 170150

Series year

1919

Actually issued

1919–1922

commissar_of_finance

N. N. Krestinsky (Н. Крестинскій) probable

Engraved facsimile, constant across the 1919-22 RSFSR issues.

cashier

not read uncertain

Handwritten facsimile, legible on the note but not resolved to a name. Compare against a published signature list.

Grade

F (IBNS)

Moderate 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

$3.5 indicative

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

Dimensions

213.7 × 133.1 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

Themes

Russian Civil WarHyperinflationCrownless eagleHigh denomination

The type

Type

5 000 Roubles, RSFSR, 1919

Printer

Goznak, Petrograd and Moscow

Rarity

common

Inscriptions

Obverse — the backing

Обеспечивается всем достоянием Республики

Secured by the entire property of the Republic — no gold, no exchange undertaking, only the assets of the state

Reverse — the counterfeiting penalty

Подделка преследуется по закону

Counterfeiting is prosecuted by law

Symbology

Soviet arms

Hammer and sickle crossed over a globe in a wreath of wheat, with a rising sun behind - industry and agriculture, the world as the field of action, and the sunrise of a new order. It replaced the eagle entirely rather than editing it.

«Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!»

'Workers of the world, unite!' - printed on money, and on the larger notes repeated in German, French, Italian, English, Arabic and Chinese. A currency addressed to people who would never hold it.

Guilloche

The dense interlaced line-work filling the field. Engine-turned on a geometric lathe, it was the era's principal anti-counterfeiting device: reproducible only with the same machine and impossible to draw freehand or photograph cleanly.

What was happening

Five thousand roubles, dated 1919 — one of the last issues to keep the State Credit Note form, with its Manager and Cashier signatures, before the RSFSR gave up the pretence and switched to settlement tokens that promised nothing but the property of the Republic.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 5 000 Roubles, RSFSR, 1919 in the collection.