Hi, I am new to this forum! And I alreadu have a coin for you to look at, what are you thoughts about this one, weight jumps from 10.3 to 10.4 my weights do not display 100s of grams

Welcome to coinpeople!

Wow that coin looks Proofish! The weight of a proper platinum 3 ruble coin is 10.35 grams. It does make me wonder why you didn't get a proper scale when you can afford such ruble.

Unfortunately with the case with some platinum coins, it is difficult to tell if yours is an original coin or not due to high levels of counterfeiting. I never hada an Imperial Russian platinum coin and one user in this forum can tell you his bad experience of how he got burnt by having a few counterfeited platinum rubles.

Hope you enjoy your time here

The coin is a present, i wouldnt be able to pay for such luxurious coin as this one. So can anyone here identify it, i mean the authentity of it. Thank you

If it is a Proof-like coin (or proof) and indeed genuine, you are talking about a VERY expensive coin! Easily SEVERAL GRAND!!!

Seriously, while you might want to listen to half of our stories, you should send it for authenitication such as PCGS or NGC as soon as possible.

Platinum coins are very dangerous nowdays. Even experts often cannot tell a fake from original. NGC and PSGS slab these fakes because they often cannot tell the difference. Last NY auctions -- at least 50% of platinum coins were fake. Some were slabbed. I was offered 3 r. 1828 2 months ago for $4000. Thus, it is becoming very lucrative to counterfeit even smaller issue. Doubt anyone can say that this is an original coin from the pictures. The only thing that can be spotted from the photograph is if the coin is an obvious fake. And, to me. this one is not obvious.

P.S. I would only buy a platinum coin if it had some auction or collection provenance.

BKB - out of curiosity, how were the platinum coins n the last NY show that you mentioned determined to be counterfeit? At least 50% is awfully a lot! Were they sent to a mass spectrometry lab to test the inpurities which determined if they are couterfeits?

Picture is taken in 2004

It was taken yesterday, i just dont bother set the time on my camera every time i turn it on.

3 specialists went through them and agreed on the fake ones.

Hopefully this was done before the auction took place?

Look at the edge near the crown and the left wing. I think it's a double strike and also a strike with increasing power and this is one of the properties of the proof. If they started to reproduce these properties in counterfeiting it's time to stop collecting coins

What were the slabbed Platinum coins that were found to be fakes? And what are names of 3 Russian specialists that found them to be fakes?

WCO

there is a funny line on the obverse, radiating from the eagles breast shield, out to the edge at 9 oclock.
i dont know if that means anything. but its noticeable, for sure. Die break?

That line goes through entire coin from left side 9:30 to right side 3:30. Well visible just above upper part of scepter. It may be remaining of adjustment mark.

WCO

I was not quite right in my previous message about double strike but the edge I mentioned is one of the proof properties. Here is what Basok saying in his paper about proof and regular strikes: Ребро монеты и перпендику­лярные к нему плоскости образу­ют "проволочный ободок". Это ре­зультат повышенной силы удара и полного заполнения металлом штемпеля.
Together with mirror-like surface, in my amateur opinion, this coin is proof.

It is a good question. I'd like to know the details as well , if possible, because I hear some rumors too.
However, I do not see prices or interest in those coins go south.

It was a semi-private discussion 30 min. before one of the auctions started. There was one serious collector from Russia, 2 serious dealers from Russia and one US dealer who specializes in Russian coins. I do not want mention names, because if these people wanted to go public, they would publish an article in RNS journal

Most, if not all of fakes mentioned were slabbed. I did not record the specific coins, because I do not specifically collect platinum. However, the only platinum coin that I now have, has an auction history going back to 1985, which was one of the reasons why I bought it.

As to the prices/interest -- consider Stack's sale. Lot #3382 That was a beautiful coin. It looked very original to me. Had some alleged provenance/history. With only 11 pcs. reportedly struck!!!!! The sale price was under $30,000. How much would a silver rouble with such mintage sell nowdays? It could, of course, be due to the fact that platinum is less popular, but, it could be due to the fact that the market is flooded with platinum fakes which make platinum less popular. (IMXO)

The game back then was: "Tell everyone it's a fake, then buy it cheaper".

Nice game plan !

As we can see now it obviously succeeded!

WCO

WCO, although that is an evil plan - I can see why one wouldn't say that. It's a "posssibility".

Whatever. There are some people I still trust.

Oh, that's not an "evil" plan, only some collectors who readily trust "rumors" can fall for it. This is the easiest kind of "games", there are way more sophisticated kinds.

WCO

Thats a bit of a problem for me as I live in Kiev, and as far as I know there are no organizations here as PCGS or NGC . So I cant see the way to get it certified officially.

Even if you could get it certified by PCGS or NGC, what does that prove? Unlike what some dealers want you to believe, State Historical Museum in Moscow is far better equipped for authentication of Russian, and, especially, platinum coinage. From what I understand, it is possible to take the coin in and out of Russia for authentication purposes.

BKB, do you know the procedures of doing that? Who wouldn't be paranoid over sending anything valuable to Russia.

To send such a rare coin to Russia means that you need to say "do svidaniya" beforehand. Perhaps Igors knows better of how it works, especially the legistation changed at the end of last year?

I am sure there are parcel services that deliver packages from Ukraine to Russia with insurance.

qxseries, thank you for mentioning me. Somehow I projected the mirage of having knowledge in this subject, but I am not sure how. Yes, I've heard about ability of bringing coins across for authentication purposes, but never heard of anyone doing it. I think it is a can of warms all together. You can take across one coin and bring back a different one in its place.

I believe some body mention back in the days. As far I remember Hermes broad across the board ruble of Konstantin for expertise and broth back (the same coin).Also I believe if you change the coin no body recognized (if it is no picture of the coin before crossing).