This is a batch of Soviet coins that I received some time ago. I believe they are all proof which made me wonder how common these are supposed to be. I am somewhat assuming that they must be cracked out from the hard case mintset or removed from the soft plastic sheet.







Comparsion images:







A total of:

1k: 20
2k: 20
3k: 20
5k: 30
10k: 30
15k: 29 (don't ask why)
20k: 30, 20 of 1978, 10 of 1979
50k: 20
1r: 20

Are these very common? All I know is that they didn't circulate and have typical mint set corrosion. What I see is that some people don't consider coins in the mintset to be "proof" quality. What do you think?

Nevertheless, I see mintsets of 1978 selling around 10USD. Good bargain I guess

I think "prooflike" is a better description for the coins that were issued in the sets at the time. Proof applied more to the Olympic coins.

I remember writing to the Bank of Foreign Trade of the USSR at the time for these, and never getting a response.

I would have easily agreed that they are proof-like if I didn't see a common ruble in a NGC slab designated as PF, if I am not mistaken.

Does anyone that has access to NGC registery check if there was any such coin?

NGC does slab them as proofs, if someone thought it was proof when they graded it. But I know Goznak didn't set out with the intent of creating the mint set coins as proof, gosh, they cannot even keep their paw prints off of them

There were Mint State, in Russian terminology "Улучшеного качества", and Proofs for these coins. Your coins seem to be "Улучшеного качества". Sometimes by mistake NGC graded "Улучшеного качества" as Proofs.

WCO

Agreed. Under magnification the fields of the coins in the sets are not proof but proof-like. There are tiny imperfections easily seen under a glass; without using a glass they do appear to be proofs, however. On the other hand, the true proofs (including the special Olympic copper-nickel pieces issues in the blue cases) are fully equivalent to proof coins issued by other world mints.

When I was at the Mezhnumizmatika office/store in Moscow in 1973 I asked about the quality and they indicated that they did not consider the sets to be proofs. They certainly did not advertise them as such in the literature they sent me each year listing sets for sale.

I consider the annual Soviet mint sets to be roughly equivalent to the Special Mint Sets issued in the 1960s by the U.S. Mint.

RWJ

Was Mezhnumizmatika around that long ago? I remember in the 1980's getting literature from them(everytime the Soviet postage stamps removed by some crook in the PO) but earlier back in the 1970's I thought it was the Bank of Foreign Trade of the USSR that handled the sets.

Mezhnumizmatika was a joint German-Russian venture if I am not mistaken.

You are right, it was the Bank of Foreign Trade. I was there on June 18, 1973, and purchased a 1972 mint set; they had no earlier ones on hand at that time (and, oddly enough, none of 1973) although later I did get a 1970 set through Mezhnumizmatika; these were hard to find even in the late 1970s. I also purchased an XF 1922 AG silver rouble for $11; the price was the same for 1921 and 1922. I think, but am not certain, that common date Nicholas II gold coins were on hand for rather high prices. The Bank sold modern Soviet medals of which I bought several. All prices were in dollars although other Western currencies were accepted at the prevailing exchange rates.

RWJ

I remember also that the Bank for Foreign Trade and then later Mezhnumizmatika also sold Baltic states coins at rather high prices, I remember the Latvian 5 Lats coins going for something like 15-20$ back then. The only coins I bought in the USSR were ones I ended up burying in other things so I wouldn't have a hassle getting them out of the country, stuff like pyatiks etc and old dengas etc.

Now that you mention it I vaguely recall seeing some Baltic silver coins for sale in 1973 but do not remember the prices. (I was not interested as I do not collect this series.) Also some over-priced gold medals honoring Soviet themes. There may have been some small bars of gold or silver as well but these were equally of no interest.

RWJ

The 1960's and 1970's gold medallions were 14 karat or .580 if I am not mistaken. I have seen a few of them on eBay, but I still think they are overpriced. I thought the Valentina Tereshkova and Yuri Gagarin medals were interesting, but not at those prices and with such a low fineness of gold. They must have been of low mintage, since obviously they were created solely for export and not internal usage.

WCO, when you mention this:



Can I assume that there are indeed genuine proof coins for these? As well as, would you happen to have any reference for them?

There are genuine Proofs in existence, made from first days of USSR in 1924 (and before that for RSFSR 1921-1923) till the fall of USSR in 1991. They were assembled as Proof sets only in 1990 and 1991. These are KM-PS3 ans KM-PS4. And before that date they were not packed as sets but separates. There is no info in catalogues about dates or mintage figures or even about their existence. Also it seems that some dates were made as Proofs and other dates did not. Those coins that are found in Mint Sets are not Proofs but as said RWJ similar to US Special Mint Sets of 1960's, or "Улучшеного качества" how they are called in Russia.

As you noticed there is very little info (if at all) about all Early or Modern Proof coins in ALL Russian catalogues. I myself used to have 1926 bronze Proof Set, all NGC PR-66, real beauty! Try to find reference on these in any Russian book if you can!

WCO

I wish I had the 1926 set, I am currently looking for early Soviet bronze in BU.

Thank you for the infomation WCO. I believe I have seen a set of early Soviet bronze coins offered by Ilya Avrutsky a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I can't remember what the year the proof Soviet coins are. Maybe someone remembered??? I thought I saved it but my data was wiped out several times over the years

I took a look at his site and this is one Soviet silver coin for offer: http://www.worldcoinsonline.com/page.php?p...p;itemid=001173 Much common than the bronze proof coins - I only seen them on Ilya's site once and that was it.

Now keeping that aside, anyone actually know any dealers that deals with typical Soviet coins that are meant for circulation? Or do I have to buy them in bulk and search through them? Even typical Soviet coins are getting somewhat hard to find!

Back to the topic, I just found one that is on ebay except it's a 1979. Somewhat similar but not excellent photography.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=280081655970

NGC graded it as PF63. Do you agree with the PF designation? Or NGC was being too generous?