http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=290063596522

Absurd?

More than absurd. This coin has been cleaned / polished and then artificially toned. Such an ugly piece! It is worth IMHO 6-8 Euro, with s/h surely less than 10 Euro

Hard to say ... although this series isn't listed as scarce by Brekke, it is unusual to find such a coin with such clear traces of the underlying design as this one seems to have.

But if it weren't for the two newbies fighting over it, it might only go for half of the current bid.

no, Bob, you're not right. All 2 kopek and 5 kopek pieces with MM and SPM mint marks are overstrikes, it's just the grade the traces are visible. Clear overstrikes from early 60s are relatively easy to find

I probably have to agree with Kisenish too. They are somewhat easy to find and usually I can find one in 10-20USD except I haven't been bothering these days. I believe there are some years and mintmarks that are much harder to find in overstriked forms but I am losing interest in going that far. You cant' always win everything

Edit:

Just to illustrate some examples:







They weren't too costly, compared to other overstrikes that I have.

Absolutely correct. Here are some examples from my old box. The most interesting is the one with two heads
Prices vary from 20USD to 40USD in my mind.

The Oldman

and another one...

Wow. All 1763s. Nice one Oldman. I like the offstruck one, which is the very bottom right one.

Now Bob is going to get one in his collection VERY fast, am I right?

Thanks. I need to dig deeper into the box

Well, I almost bid on the coin we were discussing ... but at the moment, I am buying somewhat more slowly than usual. (You never know when the next 1907 poltina will turn up ... )

Here is another one. Year 1763..or 1788 ???
Please see the host date clearly visible ..
The Oldman

That is interesting Oldman. I don't remember seeing many 1788 2 kopeks from St. Petersburg - most of what I remember seeing are from Moscow Mint. But still a nice hoard of overstruck coins you got there. Would you happen to have any overstruck 5 kopek monster coins? Or the harder to find 1 kopek coin?

Actually, I think this one has MM mintmark , not SPM.
Here is another example.

What a lovely coin!

Great coin, Oldman! Very hard to find this type in such good condition.

Thanks guys! These coisn are from my so-called "previous" life When I was a coin collector ...very long time ago ..
The Oldman

Nice! I'm still looking for other unusual overstruck copper coins, that is an overstruck 2para-3kopeks coin, which I guess will prove to be very difficult. The Swedish overstruck 1 ore itself is quite interesting and I don't think I'll see another sample any day soon:



One other thing that I am hunting for is to look for three different years on a single coin, which I think will prove to be real challenge. I only have one so far that has clear dates.



(thanks Banivechi)

And another two different overstruck coins for your eyes:





Gives you totally unusual look of the coins.

(as well as, I'm looking for an overstruck 1724 kopek - serves me right for not buying one a long time ago )

Same coin up on auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=290075805778

Geez, someone must be terribly desperate.

Another:
http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...p;rd=1&rd=1