10 Kopecks

These small-denomination paper notes were issued by the Treasury — not the State Bank — as an emergency substitute for silver coinage that had vanished from circulation within weeks of mobilization in 1914. Hoarding and melting drained small change almost immediately, and by 1915 the government had no practical alternative to printing fractional currency on paper.

The notes were legal tender but widely resented. Because they circulated alongside genuine postage stamps used as currency under a separate 1915 scheme, the public often confused the two systems. The Treasury series at least had the advantage of being slightly more durable than actual stamps glued to cardboard backings.