Are not strictly paper money, but their charm lies in striking illustrations, which make them highly sought among collectors of memories of WWII. The German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) begins June 22, 1941 and is immediately overwhelming: the Germans grind thousands of miles of territory and lay siege to the major Soviet cities, Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and Stalingrad (today Volgograd). But the "Mother Russia" is able to react, and in November 1941 takes shape counteroffensive that, at the cost of enormous sacrifices (20 million dead) will bring the Soviets, in spring 1945, to hoist their flag over Reichstag. Money was raised to finance the "Great Patriotic War" in Soviet Union by selling war bonds and lottery tickets. Subscriptions to the war loans yielded 93 billion rubles, and four lotteries raised another 25 billion rubles. I have some of them in my collection and I hope you can enjoy them 10 rubles bond 50 rubles bond petronius
Treasury bonds were issued in denominations of 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 rubles, since 1939 and until 1946 (Bonds of Rebuilding) to an annual interest of 4%. The designs are striking and very partiotic, as illustrated. All denominations of an issue have the same vignettes. They were printed by the Soviet state printer, Gosnak. The paper is watermarked with wavy horizontal lines. On back, rules and conditions...anyone knows Russian? 100 rubles bond petronius
Lotteries were held by military and pseudo-military organizations to raise money for operational and administrative needs. These lotteries began at least in 1930s, so they are difficult to classify all as Great Patriotic War issues, but the military vignettes make them popular and interesting items for collectors. Lottery ticket 1933 Lottery ticket 1936 See you tomorrow with more bonds and lottery tickets. petronius
Wow, these are quite amazing in their own right. By chance are they expensive to purchase in this condition?
I'm not very up to date on their price, I have for many years (over 10). I bought almost all from a Russian dealer at Fiera Antiquaria in Arezzo, Tuscany. The price at that time was lire 5,000 - 15,000 each ($ 3 - 10). An exception was the 100 rubles bond in blue (post #2) that I purchased at Veronafil, the biggest numismatic fair in Italy, for lire 70,000 ($ 45). In an old US catalog (World War II Remembered - 1995) the price for bonds, facial value from 10 to 100 rubles, was from $ 15 to $ 80. petronius :smile
The prices have not changed much from what Petronius has described. These are fairly available at modest prices. Mongolian war bonds from WWII which look similar and were printed by the Russians are scarce.
I forgot to write the date of bonds: 10 rubles, 1942 - 50 rubles, 1945 - 100 rubles, 1943 Lottery ticket 1937 Lottery ticket 1939 Lottery ticket 1942 petronius
Last, another 100 rubles bond. It's not in very good condition, and live is even worse than in picture, but precisely for this is my favorite. Think how many hands spent it, what dreams and hopes of victory may have aroused, is a feeling with no price...we can really say that IT FOUGHT THE WAR! And now, in my collection :too-cool-for: 100 rubles bond 1944 petronius
I hope I can run across some of these in the future as they are interesting and have great vignettes! :thumb:
