Treasury Bond Coupon, 2 Roubles

Купонъ билета Государственнаго Казначейства

Reverse of Treasury Bond Coupon, 2 Roubles — Reverse 600 dpi

This copy

Accession: OM-00139
Series year: 1918
Actually issued: 1918
Signatures: This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.
Grade: VG (IBNS)
Edge damage, heavy 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: $4.5 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-09-07.
Dimensions: 78.2 × 38.8 mm (±0.5, from the scan)
Themes: Russian Civil War Emergency money Bond coupon

The type

Type: Treasury Bond Coupon, 2 Roubles
Printer: Not established
Rarity: common

Inscriptions

Obverse — the gold promise

Государственный банкъ размѣниваетъ кредитные билеты на золотую монету безъ ограниченія суммы (1 р. = 1/15 имперіала, содержитъ 17,424 доли чистаго золота)

The State Bank exchanges credit notes for gold coin without limit of sum (1 rouble = 1/15 imperial, containing 17.424 dolya of pure gold)

Reverse — the counterfeiting penalty

Подделка кредитныхъ билетовъ преслѣдуется закономъ

Counterfeiting of credit notes is prosecuted by law

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.
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

Not money: an interest coupon clipped from a State Treasury bond and spent as cash. When a state stops producing small denominations, people improvise with whatever bears a printed number and is hard to forge.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every Treasury Bond Coupon, 2 Roubles in the collection.

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