Imperial Russian Government - 1916 dated $1,000 5 1/2% Uncanceled Gold Bond - Fully Engraved with Pass-co Authentication

5 1/2% Bond printed by American Bank Note Company. Great Graphics! Bond comes with Pass-co authentication.

The Russian Empire, often known as Imperial Russia, was a significant historical entity that spanned Eurasia from 1721, emerging from the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which concluded the Great Northern War. This empire persisted until the establishment of the Republic by the Provisional Government after the February Revolution of 1917. As the third-largest empire in history, it at one time encompassed territories across three continents—Europe, Asia, and North America—being outstripped in size only by the British and Mongol empires. The ascendance of the Russian Empire paralleled the decline of several neighboring rival powers, including the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia, the Ottoman Empire, and Qing China.

From the 10th to the 17th centuries, the region was governed by a noble class known as the boyars, with a tsar, who later assumed the title of emperor, at the apex of the hierarchy. Tsar Ivan III (1462–1505) was instrumental in laying the foundations for the future empire, as he expanded the territory of his state threefold, diminished the influence of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and established the basis for the Russian state. The House of Romanov presided over the Russian Empire from its inception in 1721 until 1762, followed by the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, of German patrilineal descent, which ruled from 1762 until the empire's dissolution. By the early 19th century, the empire's expanse reached from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, and from the Baltic Sea in the west to Alaska and Northern California in North America to the east.