Anyone collecting Russian coins (1922-1945)?

Hello,

I have some part of these years already, but would like to complete the type set. There are a lot of Kopecks (1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20 and 50) as well as 1 Ruble. I am missing some of the Kopecks. They are made mostly of copper and aluminium-bronze.

The main problem is that there are often in very bad shape, some of more expensive types are fakes and I am not quite sure how to detect them. So far, I noticed that there are small marks on the bottom part of the coins (bottom of wheat) as well thinner wheat itself, but they could be easily wear off, so it is hard to tell.

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/russia-5-kopeks-y-79-1924-cuid-1086454-duid-1523320

In the attachment are the photos I found on Ebay, but not sure if these coins are genuine.



Any book, link or anything which could help me to better understand russian coins from this era would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

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A type set of such Soviet coins is actually easy to achieve. But if you are planning to collect every single year, they will get expensive very quickly. Some examples are 1942 10 & 15 kopek, 1933 - 1935 5 kopek, 1922 ruble, 1925 kopek etc. Reason why some years are expensive is generally due to low supply of such coins. 1942 is a good example as Leningrad mint was affected by WWII.

I made a digital type set album a while back if this is of any interest.

https://issuu.com/gxseries/docs/soviet_type_album

 

My goal is to complete type set, so it doesn't have to be every year. You collection is really nice, I checked coins from this period on your website. It is very informative and gives good overview what it is all in. I noticed only one small mistake: picture of 5 kopeks 1924 is probably wrong.

I understand that key days are often counterfeits, would be safe to say that fakes of low-value kopeks doesn't exist? Any suggestions what to look/watch for especially when buying over internet?

 

Picture of 1924 5 kopek is correct. I don't see what's wrong with it.

 

This is the one I saw here: http://www.gxseries.com/numis/rus_new_type/1921_1957.htm#5k



Just a small mistake, nothing important.

 

Ah I remember now. Thanks for reminding me that I have to fix that part. Never got around to it. I did have a few 1924 5 kopek and that was one of the coins that I replaced with a different photo. Obviously that would mean a few links will be affected.

Counterfeits unfortunately are a serious problem and there is no simple diagnosis for it. I bought a semi key date for a "bargain" a while back. When inspected first hand, the details are wrong in some areas. This is difficult to notice online and on top of this, it has been artificially circulated / corroded etc. Silver rubles are not immune to this either. At one stage when silver prices were at 50 usd / oz, some reasonably good quality counterfeits would appear in the market. They appear to be well circulated with good edge and would weigh about right too, except they were struck with base metal. Even if they were sold at scrap metal price, counterfeiters were making a killing out of it. So if you backtrack when silver was at that price, it has been more than a few years.

The key series would be the 1935 - 1936 series. I found most of them to be difficult in particular 5 kopek. Believe my example has some issues.

Other than that series, most examples can be found in reasonable condition at a decent price.

 

I did find some videos on this topic, but they are in russian:




The main problem is that this period is not much covered when it comes to the counterfeits (such as US coins). So, I am trying to take a look on original coins (mostly from NGC and PGCS websites) and try to spot details and make comparison.

 

Most of the early Soviet coins are affordable and somewhat plentiful. (They used to be really cheap) I started out with buying bunch lot of lower grade / scrap Soviet coins and worked my way from there. Photos can only do so much. If you avoid key and semi key dates, it should not be a problem in general.

If you are still paranoid, you can get genuine examples from this dealer - I wouldn't say it's a bargain though...

http://rustypennies.com/catalog/soviet_coins.html

 

Maybe I should go by World Coin catalog and detect the coins which would be not worth counterfeiting. For rubles and some kopecks I will be cautious. I am aiming for a type set until 1946.

 

Well, if You want to collect type set, then most of kopeks have actually several types.
For example, these 5 kopek coins. 1924 coins are big copper coins (16.38 g); 1926-1935 coins have coat of arms inside circle; 1935-1936 have 7 ribbons in coat of arms; 1937-1946 have 11 ribbons in coat of arms. All different types.

And yes, some years are very expensive and lot of fakes around. It is common to have 1933 5-kopek coins, which are actually 1935 coins with altered dates.

 

Yes, until 1945 there are about 36 types, I managed to collect 12 of them. Will try to find common coins in good condition and complete my collection.

 

I collect Soviet coins. One of my favorite - half kopek 1925.

 

I actually have a pretty large collection of Russian coins... but I have yet to catalog any of them. That almost sounds like a fun thing to do this evening!

Even though its a little older... I like my 1902 - 5 Rouble.

 

Here's my 1925 1/2 Kopek -

 

So... I was going through that Type Set Book that @gxseries posted... VERY NICE, by the way! Out of the 37 Coins you show from 1921 to 1946, I have 19 of the types (and I haven't searched ALL my coins, yet... just pulled together what I could easily find last night.)

Here's what I have:

1921 – 50 Kopek – XF
1922 – 50 Kopek – VF
1923 – 20 Kopek – F
1924 – 50 Kopek – F
1924 – 1 Rouble – XF
1925 – ½ Kopek – AU
1925 – 10 Kopek – VF (2 EA)
1926 – 5 Kopek – VF/XF (2 EA)
1927 – 15 Kopek – XF
1928 – 1 Kopek – VF+
1931 – 20 Kopek – VF
1932 – 20 Kopek – VF/FX (2 EA)
1936 – 2 Kopek – XF
1936 – 5 Kopek – VF
1936 – 10 Kopek – XF
1936 – 15 Kopek – XV
1936 – 20 Kopek – VF
1938 – 1 Kopek – XF
1940 – 3 Kopek – XF
1940 – 15 Kopek – XF
1943 – 10 Kopek – XF
1943 – 15 Kopek – XF

I do have Russian Coins from 1731 (1/4 Kopek = Denga) to modern times. I even bought a bank bag once FULL of 1,2,3, & 5 Kopeks from 1961 - 1991... There are literally like 3000 Coins in the bag!

 

Soviet era coins struck before 1957 in general are less common to coins struck after 1961. There was a revaluation of the ruble in 1961 of 10:1, which meant that 10 old kopek would be worth 1 new kopek. On top of this, the older coins had limited time to be exchanged and eventually demonitized.

Hence trying to achieve an UNC set of the earlier Soviet coins can be difficult. A lot of the nicer examples were ones that were kept as souvenirs by tourists. Unsurprisingly, that means that US is home to some nicer exanples.

 

My issue with Russian coinage is the pricing. For whatever reason, it seems that a lot of the imperial-era silver and gold coinage is priced at a much higher premium to melt than for, say, France or Britain. I know that some of the mintages were lower but that alone doesn't seem to be enough to justify some of the astronomical asking prices I've seen.

 

It's purely supply and demand. You got to remember that during some harsh times like the Soviet era where gold and silver would have been worthless to hold onto and a lot were melted during the early 20th century, ie from Russo Japan war, overthrown of the Romanov, start of the Bolsheviks, great famine etc.

If you were born in that era, would gold and silver be worth more than having food on table especially in famine / hardship times?

 

Many of the common precious metal coins issued during the Imperial period are not too badly priced. The 5 and 10 rouble gold and 1 rouble and fractional silver in EF and below is pretty on par with other European coinage of that type and era. Anything in higher grades or coins of special types the premiums skyrocket. I remember during the early to mid 90's when the Russian economy was a basket case there was all sorts of material flowing out at ridiculous prices. But then things changed.
For decent Russian and Soviet coins try Dmitry Markov in Queens or Alex Basok in Chicago. They've both been dealing in Russian coins for over 30 years. Very nice people as well.

 

I just got thru going through the REST of my Russian that I could find.

As far as Types through 1991, I am ONLY MISSING 5 TYPES:

1923 - Chervonets
1975-82 - Chervonets
1924 - 5 Kopek
1924 - 3 Kopek
1924-25 - 2 Kopek

Here's My Complete List:

R.S.F.S.R.
1921 АГ Ag 50 Kopek XF40
1922 ПЛ Ag 50 Kopek VF20
1923 Ag 20 Kopek F12
U.S.S.R.
1924 ТР Ag 50 Kopek F12
1924 Cu Kopek VF30 (Reeded Edge)
1924 ПЛ Ag Rouble XF40
1925 Ag 10 Kopek VF20
1925 Ag 10 Kopek VF20
1925 Cu ⅟₂ Kopek AU50
1926 Al-Bronze 5 Kopek VF20
1926 Al-Bronze 5 Kopek XF40
1927 Ag 15 Kopek XF40
1928 Al-Bronze Kopek VF20
1931 Cu-Ni 20 Kopek VF20
1932 Cu-Ni 20 Kopek VF30
1932 Cu-Ni 20 Kopek XF40
1936 Cu-Ni 10 Kopek XF40
1936 Cu-Ni 15 Kopek XF40
1936 Al-Bronze 2 Kopek XF40
1936 Cu-Ni 20 Kopek VF20
1936 Al-Bronze 5 Kopek VF20
1938 Al-Bronze Kopek XF40
1939 Al-Bronze 3 Kopek VG08 (Bent)
1940 Cu-Ni 15 Kopek XF40
1940 Al-Bronze 3 Kopek XF40
1943 Cu-Ni 10 Kopek XF40
1943 Cu-Ni 15 Kopek XF40
1949 Al-Bronze 3 Kopek XF40
1950 Al-Bronze 2 Kopek VF20
1952 CuNi 10 Kopek XF40
1952 Al-Bronze 3 Kopek XF40
1953 Cu-Ni 15 Kopek F12
1954 Al-Bronze 2 Kopek XF40
1954 Al-Bronze 5 Kopek VF20
1955 CuNi 20 Kopek VF20
1956 Al-Bronze 3 Kopek XF40
1957 CuNi 15 Kopek VF30
1957 Cu-Ni 15 Kopek XF40
1957 Al-Bronze 3 Kopek VF20 (7 Ribbons Each Side)
1965 Cu-Ni-Zn Rouble PF (Proof or Proof-Like?)
1977 Ag 10 Rouble PF 1980 Olympics - Scenes of Moscow 0.9636
1977 Ag 5 Rouble PF 1980 Olympics - Scenes of Leningrad 0.4824
1977 Ag 5 Rouble PF 1980 Olympics - Scenes of Kiev 0.4824
1987 Brass Kopek XF40

I didn't List all the 1961-91 Coins that I have, as the number is too Large!