Images Courtesy of Heritage Auctions via Numista
I wanted to do a little change-up this time and expend some time on a coin that I wish I had in my collection. To many, this is just a large copper coin minted during a time when the Russian Empire was probably at it's height of global influence and power. In actuality, this is an extremely large copper coin. It weighs in at over 53 grams or pure copper with a diameter of 41mm. It's about as thick as 3-4 quarters stacked together and at the time it was minted, it was a high denomination coin. Nowadays, 5 Kopeks is negligible, in fact the current Russian monetary system has no coin currently produced for this nominal denomination.
The reason why I chose this coin for my first "Wish List" post is due to a few things. First, the coin is huge and a very heavy coin. Second, it's old and was minted during the reign of Catherine the Great. Thirdly, it's a relatively inexpensive coin from the 18th century; about $50-150 depending on grade. The fourth reason is quite sad, I saw this coin on the shopping network during the coin show, and they were selling this for around $150. A bit overpriced, but they said that they had found a hoard of uncirculated 5 Kopeks in Russia just recently. Whether you believe the story or not, the coin is pretty cool, and had I not watched the Coin Show on the shopping network, I probably would've never even seen this coin. I will buy one someday, but until then, I will just have to marvel at it's opulence via my own blog! =(
Happy Thursday, when it should've been posted yesterday! =P
I'd also love to have one... in such an incredibly high grade as pictured anyway! My own example (1775 IIRC) is VF at best.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I probably wouldn't care enough to pay $150 for it (though it's a definite possibility, and if I find one for $50 I'd buy it for sure; I paid only $10-ish for my own example though, but it was in a much lower grade).
For 5 copeck coins not being currently produced - you're very correct with "currently" :-) they were last minted in 2009, and indeed they're still common in circulation. Not bad for a coin with a face value of 0.15 of a cent (either US or Canadian... I'm not sure which you use in your price estimates, but they're close enough anyway).
Oh, and IIRC there were a few Russian coins in that huge batch you bought. When, if ever, are you planning to post about them?
January First-of-May
(if you didn't realize that already, I'm that Russian visitor you had)
Привет! I really like this coin, and one day I will own one! Glad to know that you're still visiting and reading my posts! Just for you, I will do a post on the Russian (USSR) coins that I picked up in that batch this Wednesday! You've probably seen them, but regardless, they are interesting because of their denomination! Hope to see you sometime next week!
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