Types / 1918
25 Roubles, Rostov-on-Don, 1918
Денежный знакъ Ростовской конторы Государственнаго банка — Двадцать пять рублей
What was happening
The Rostov-on-Don office of the State Bank printed this because the centre had stopped functioning and the Don region needed money.
The note argues its own case in its main text: this token is issued by the Rostov office of the State Bank and circulates on a par with State Credit Notes. That sentence is a branch of a central bank asserting, on its own authority, that its paper is as good as the state's — because there was no longer a state in a position to say otherwise.
Rostov was the base of the Volunteer Army and later the seat of the Armed Forces of South Russia. These notes circulated alongside VSYUR treasury notes, imperial paper and Soviet issues, and their acceptance tracked which army held the city.
