5 Roubles, Far East, 1920

This copy

Accession

OM-00073

Serial

ГБ 018763

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)

Bright, light handling. 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

140.7 × 85.7 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

Themes

Russian Civil WarTransbaikalLocomotive

The type

Type

5 Roubles, Far East, 1920

Printer

Not established

Rarity

common

Inscriptions

Obverse — the branch's warrant

Читинское отдѣленіе Государственнаго Банка

Chita Office of the State Bank — Transbaikal under ataman Semyonov and Japanese protection

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 5 Roubles, Far East, 1920 in the collection.