Molotok.ru is a Russian version of ebay.com, which is nothing more than an auction site.

As my area of collecting Russian coins have been thinning down, it seems that there might be some coins that I have to get from that site.

It seems that most sellers wouldn't send it overseas, well duh the Russian customs were pretty uptight about anything sent overseas when I tried to ship some stuffs to another country while I was there. I can imagine how difficult it can be, although there might be ways...

So, anyone actually managed to win items off molotok.ru and got them safely to your home?

I have never tried buying coins in Russia.

If you try, you could probably get the current coins exported, but anything from earlier times might be forbidden.

Maybe it would be easier just to buy from dealers in the West who might have the things you want? Certainly things show up on ebay too.

I believe that it is illegal to export coins struck before 1945 from Russia. Not sure about this exact date, but I know that any and all coins from the imperial periods and earlier cannot legally be exported from Russia today.

Therefore, it is pretty pointless to bid in a Russian coin auction, even if you go there in person (that is, unless you are willing to risk smuggling the coins out). R. W. Julian pointed this out to me on the RCC newsgroup, so it must be true.

That's wierd - there are some Russian sellers on ebay and selling pre 1900s coins. And yes, I did dare to take the risk, and they were sent from Russia, and I got it with no problems, so I find that pretty odd.

Perhaps I guess they were good in hiding them... But again, it is not that I don't understand why Russian customs and laws are strict when it comes to exporting such coins to preserve history.

Ironically, I have sold some coins back to Russia at the same time.

I have received Petr I coins in trade with a fellow collector in the Ural Mtns, I did mostly Nikolai II coins, but occasionally I got earlier and lots of the early Soviet silver coins from the 1920's. He sent them by registered mail and when I sent coins to him went registered and carefully packaged and never had a problem.

The only thing I am weary of on Molotok.ru is the huge number of fakes, and when stuff is authentic it seems like they are going for more than I am willing to pay for.

It is my understanding that exporting Imperial coinage from Russia is illegal, but I don't know how vigorously it is enforced and I have never bought anything from within the country other than numismatic literature. I also don't know if the apparent illegality of exporting coins is considered a minor infraction like a overstaying your time at a parking meter, or whether it is considered a serious crime.

Gelos.ru says "Domestic shipment and various payment possibilities are also provided". Notice it says "Domestic" and not "International".

Conros.ru emphasizes (in red letters) "The Russian law forbids the export of cultural values but sanctions their import."

Numismat.ru says "ATTENTION ! We send the subjects, acquired at us, only on Russia (in connection with the current legislation). The information of internet-shop is updated daily in a mode on-line" (which sounds like an awkward computer-generated translation).

The Russian-language version (for those able to read it) says "ВНИМАНИЕ! Мы доставляем приобретеные у нас антикварные предметы только по территории России. Книги и предметы мы доставляем курьерской службой СПСР. Примерную стоимость доставки можно расчитать здесь."

It might be that the law only cares about the large-scale commercial export of cultural properties and doesn't care about a private collector trading with another collector. Or maybe you and your friend have just been lucky.

I agree with your comments about molotok.ru which is as bad or worse than Ebay for fakes and the aggressive pricing on genuine items. That, combined with the potential headaches exporting from within Russia, is more than enough to keep me away.

I had never heard of this site until now. Looked at some of the lots, and I find the prices absolutely amazing!

On eBay, once in a while something really rare will go for over $1,000 -- for example, the 10 rouble proof gold coin from the period of Nikolai II which was recently sold at auction by a seller in the UK on eBay which was discussed here. But at Molotok.ru, MOST of the coins are selling for prices in the many thousands of dollars! Even the ones which are not are selling for about 10 times what I would think the "real" price of the coin would be.

I wonder if there is a kind of chasse gardée going on there? That is, the prices posted might be kept artificially high to discourage all but the ones in the know, but who knows what the REAL price paid for any item is?

Yes, prices are artifically floated to some ridicious prices so that only the elites can afford to pay for them. There is a good reason why there are more Russians buying coins from eBay these days because of the ridicious market. But who knows, perhaps that might be the real prices these days as I find it really difficult to find good Russian coins.

But as of why I was interested in that auction site, I am afraid that I am looking for a key date in my collection, and if I had to get it, I wouldn't want to find it out too late.

I don't spend a lot of time hanging out on that site, but the times I have looked, it is the cheap coins that seem to get bids while the moon stuff just sits there. It might be that the people listing the very expensive stuff have no real expectation of selling it there, but just want to let potential buyers know that it is available and once the word is out, a privately negotiated sale can take place. I think that happens on ebay with very expensive coins also.

The Russian law forbids exporting from the country coins more than 50 years old without permission from the Ministry of culture, which is very difficult to get. And it does not matter if a coin is Russian or not, or whether it costs $5 or $1000. This regulation is inherited from Soviet times, but unfortunately is still valid.
Therefore, any coin older than 50 years which is shipped out of Russia is actually smuggled. If discovered by Russian customs it will most probably be confiscated.

To top it up, you are NOT supposed to remove any Russian currenies and coins from the country. That is the warning at the customs area at Shremechevo Airport. And yes, I did remove a nice batch of banknotes and coins from Russia.

Never bought anything from there. Mostly because "Доставка только по Российской Федерации"...

I bet you'll find that phrase from every auction you find interesting!

In addition to the legal problems, there is also the fact that prices for Russian coins are higher in Russia than they are in the West.

We should start selling our coins in molotok

There isn't a need for that. I have emails from Russian buyers, wanting to buy directly off from me before I even start to think of auctioning them