Russian Paper Money Made in the USA - Part 2
Meanwhile the printing of the 50 kopeck notes was progressing according to schedule and on Jan. 21, 1919, Serge Ughet, the financial attaché, sent one of the bills to the State Department for examination. Unlike the larger denominations these new bills simply stated their value in subsidiary silver which did not seem to offend anyone. On March 12 some 40,000,000 of them were shipped to Vladivostok from San Francisco while April 5 would witness another 10,000,000 being sent.
The notes were duly received by the agents of Kolchak at Vladivostok and quickly sent on by railway to Omsk. A large quantity was immediately put into circulation without any signatures or stamped in any way. Although exact figures are not available, it seems likely that Omsk used at least half of the shipment. The remainder was put into storage, either at Omsk or Vladivostok.
The 50 kopeck bills without signatures are readily available to collectors and cost very little. As Kolchak did not put all the bills into use, a quantity of them later fell into other hands.
In the meantime, at Washington, the fate of the 25- and 100-ruble notes was under discussion by top officials. Finally, in an anticlimax, the ABNC pointed out that these notes had never been
