4½ Roubles Irkutsk

The 4½ Rouble denomination is an artifact of tsarist-era postal rate arithmetic — the figure corresponds to specific redemption or remittance increments used in Siberian administrative practice, not a general-circulation face value. By the time these notes reached Irkutsk, the State Commission for Redemption of Debts was operating in increasingly chaotic political conditions; the February Revolution had already occurred, and the Provisional Government inherited both the commission and its outstanding obligations.

American Bank Note Company's involvement reflects a pre-war contract that outlasted the government that placed it. The plates were American; the political authority validating the notes was not the one that ordered them.