40 Roubles, Provisional Government kerenka

This copy

Accession

OM-00220

Series year

1917

Actually issued

1917

Signatures

This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.

Grade

F (IBNS)

Soiled, 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

$6.5 indicative

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

Dimensions

64.6 × 49.2 mm (±0.5, from the scan)

The type

Type

40 Roubles, Provisional Government kerenka

Printer

Not established

Rarity

very common

Inscriptions

Obverse — compulsory circulation

Обязателенъ къ обращенію наравнѣ съ кредитными билетами

Compulsory in circulation on a par with credit notes

Symbology

Crownless eagle

The Provisional Government's arms.

An impossible denomination

Forty roubles fits no decimal series. It exists because the plate was adapted from a consular stamp die, and because nobody was designing a currency any more.

What was happening

A kerenka, named for Kerensky. The Provisional Government needed money faster than it could engrave it, so it printed these: no serial numbers, no signatures, minimal design, issued in uncut sheets that people tore apart as they spent them.

They were despised on sight and still circulated for years, through the Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks and the Civil War, because nothing better was available. The 20 and 40 rouble denominations are the emblem of 1917 finance - money printed at the speed of a collapsing state.

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 40 Roubles, Provisional Government kerenka in the collection.