I remember reading somewhere (unfortunately I cannot recall where it was) that all the coins of smaller denominations (5, 10, 15, 20 копеек) of the year 1913 bearing mm initials ЭБ always appear with mirror like surfaces and in a superb condition. This far my own experience confirms this to be true.

Has anyone seen an example of any of these coins that shows marks of having been in circulation (well circulated among people that is, not from one bank vault to the other) ?

If there are no such coins they were never put in to circulation, and this leads to an assumption that these coins perhaps never were meant to circulate as means of payment and indeed were struck for some special reason and purpose. And this, in turn, may mean that they never were struck in the year 1913 but at a later date as so often seems to be the case.

Possibly answers to my questions have already been given somewhere, but this far they have escaped my eyes. Would someone of you coin people be kind to advise me?

JRH

The 5, 10, 15, and 20 kopecks for mintmaster EB in 1913 were struck only for the annual
proof sets. This is and has been a common matter in world mints where coins were made for
collectors but not circulation. For Imperial Russia under Nicholas II, for example, this can also
be seen in the 1901 25 kopecks and 1901 AP 20 kopecks.

For coins of the U.S. this has also been quite common and numerous examples could be cited,
as early as 1827.

RWJ

50 Kopecks and Ruble 1913-EB were minted as Business Strikes for circulation.

WCO

I thank you for the answers.

Besides being informative and solving a riddle this also saves me and perhaps some other fellow numismatists time when we know that this variety cannot be found among coins in lesser conditions.

JRH