500 Roubles, Far Eastern Republic, 1920

This copy

Accession

OM-00069

Serial

АА 00504

Series year

1920

Actually issued

1920

manager

not read uncertain

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

cashier

not read uncertain

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

Grade

VF (IBNS)

Light wear, sound. 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

$9 indicative

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

Dimensions

150.3 × 100.1 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

Themes

Russian Civil WarBuffer stateFar East

The type

Type

500 Roubles, Far Eastern Republic, 1920

Printer

Not established

Rarity

common

Inscriptions

Obverse — the buffer state's money

Кредитный билетъ Дальне-Восточной Республики

Credit note of the Far Eastern Republic — a state Moscow invented to avoid a war with Japan

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.

What was happening

Money from the far end of the collapse. Transbaikal and the Maritime Province were held by ataman Semyonov under Japanese protection, then by the Far Eastern Republic — a nominally independent buffer state created by Moscow in 1920 to avoid a direct war with Japan, and absorbed into the RSFSR the moment the Japanese withdrew in 1922.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 500 Roubles, Far Eastern Republic, 1920 in the collection.