Imperial Russia 25 Rubles 1909

The Russian issues of 1909 include my personal favorite of all Imperial Russian banknotes, the 25 ruble specimen.  This banknote is one of the most beautiful of all of the Russian issues and exhibits pink and green paper coloring, the watermark portrait of Czar Alexander  II (reigned 1881-1894), and a golden '1909' stamp (in the lower right-hand corner of the obverse).  Truly, this note must be seen firsthand to be appreciated. 

Like the other 10 ruble note I discussed last week, this note is relatively available even in nice grades.  In fact, I was able to purchase an example grading 'about uncirculated' (bearing the Shipov signature) for $11 at a regional coin show without much difficulty.   Again, like with the 10 ruble issue, prices increase with the age of the note, with examples bearing the Konshin signature going for approximately double that of their Shipov-bearing counterparts.

Here is both the obverse and reverse of this banknote:

Obverse:

Reverse: