50 Roubles Second Siberian Provisional Administration

The Siberian Provisional Government at Omsk was functioning as the principal anti-Bolshevik administration in the east when this note was issued — a political entity that would survive only until early 1920, when Kolchak's White Army collapsed and Omsk fell to Red forces. The entire currency programme was improvised under wartime conditions, with limited access to sophisticated printing equipment, which is reflected in the comparatively plain presswork throughout the S860 series.

Notes from this government circulated across an enormous but militarily unstable geographic zone, accepted unevenly depending on how close the front lines were at any given moment. Surviving examples often show heavy use; the paper quality was uneven from the outset, and notes that saw real circulation show it.