The First World War led to the collapse of the three European empires: German, Austrian-Hungarian and Russian. The latter disappeared from the political map during the events of the February Revolution of 1917. The power in the new Russian republic was concentrated in the hands of the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.
The exposition of the Museum of Local Lore has a small collection of government bonds and bank notes of the period of the Provisional Government. A special place there is occupied by a state credit card worth 250 rubles. It has received the name "dumka", or "the Duma money" to which also carried treasury tickets in nominal value of 1000 rubles.
The appearance of credit cards had a thoughtful design and rich decoration. On the front side of both denominations was placed the name of the sign, the denomination of the denomination in figures, as well as the text about the exchange for a gold coin. Immediately put the year of issue, a series in the form of a combination of two letters and three digits, the signature of the manager of the State Bank and the cashier. On the reverse side of the 250-ruble note there is a two-headed eagle without royal regalia, and a 1000-ruble banknote is the Tauride Palace, where the State Duma meetings were held.
The peculiarity of issuing credit cards was the image of a swastika. Most likely, it was used as an anti-counterfeiting element. The oldest symbol can also be seen as a sign of an emerging new life.