This seller certainly has a lot of high-priced items for sale. The 5 kopeek coin here has the lowest price of all (at the moment, anyway):

Elizaveta, silver 5 kopeek 1758

Now this seller has a feedback score of 100%, and 69 of them are from buyers. Looks like a good deal! However, I have been comparing the images with squirrel's avatar as well as pictures in Bitkin, Severin and Uzdenikov. Something about the bottom curl in the "E" doesn't look right to me -- in all the other pictures, the end of it is rounder. The one in eBay is kind of straight at the end. Also, the size of the crown doesn't look right.

If it is fake, it is certainly a very good one, IMHO... But I have been known to mistake genuine coins for fakes in the past, especially those of pre-1800 dates. Can someone please set me straight here?

Also, what do you think about this seller's other coins?

That is one coin I need for my mad type set!

Not too sure if it's a counterfeit or not but it's definately better than the general counterfeits that I see on the net. I regret the very time when I could get one at just mere 35USD or so - now I have to pay the full price

That one looks ok to me.. I will post the reverse of my avatar coin (a 1758) for you, plus another 1758 i bought from kisinesh a while back. The fakes of this coin i have seen are not as thin as the originals, so an edge photo may reveal a fake. Also, this coin is upside down/die axis obverse to reverse, which is correct for these 5 K's The other coins from this seller sure look nice to me, at first glance.

Maybe off the topic...

Do you think this coin is worth the dollars it already has? Actually, I have not seen this type in such a nice condition lately but still...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...p;rd=1&rd=1

BTW, another reliable seller.....

Trully yours,

on the original coin that is a nice one but I woud pull back from buying it as it would cost $22 to ship to the UK Now as for the second that looks to be a beuaty but the price is scary LOL specialy as I dont know enough about Russian coins I know that Mrs Orc would love either of them though LOL

De Orc

Welcome to coinpeople De Orc, especially the Russian coin section. This is the best English format forum in the world I can assure it

Price wise, Russian coins have never been this expensive in history I just wished some massive hoard of coins got found and reduce the mad prices but it looks like it's going to continue for a looooooooooong time.

Nice catch Oldman. Obviously there is no way I can even afford it, when I don't even pay 3 figures for most of the rubles that I have.

Thanks for the welcome I know next to nothing about Russian coins but Mrs Orc is taken with anything Russian so I have bought her a fair few LOL and I must admit I do like them myself, so I supose you could say that I collect them by proxy LOL I am looking forward to learning a lot more though

De Orc

For the purpose of comparison, here's one I bought in a Joe Lepczyk sale sometime back in the early 1980s. The "E" monogram is curved at its tail.

Thanks for the wonderful pictures, grivna!

Please take a look at the bottom curl of the "E" in the eBay picture -- doesn't this look a bit strange?

Interesting - thanks for the photo grivna. How much more shocker coins have you got hidden Grivna?

Yes, a bit, but I'm not sure if that is the actual shape or just the toning pattern hiding part of a curve in the tail.

I don't know whether this monogram was engraved by hand, or punched in as a hub. Perhaps RWJ can shed some light on this. If engraved, it might be just a normal variant. If it's a fake, then it's well made.

You're welcome, gx. I'm pleased that you like it, because I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.

grivna, you wouldn't happen to have the copper version of it? I only have two as overstruck but they are obviously ugly. Have been looking for one quite some time Should have sticked with a nice silver one instead.

Yes, I do. Here it is.

Knew that you would have it. Thanks again for the neat picture.

VERY NICE baroque coins, Grivna!

Thank you. I am very happy with them.

It appears to have been engraved by hand, with the letter E made up of several small parts. The coin on eBay is quite close to one that appeared in the Conros monthly auction of April 16, 2005. My feeling is that this piece is genuine and the large E does vary from piece to piece.

RWJ

Thank you, Bob! It does have that "original look" about it WRT patina, wear, etc. From grivna1726's coin pictures, I can see how the "E" must have been engraved.

As usual, this has been a very educational and enlightening exchange for me.

The seller has responded to my request for an edge picture, BTW -- said he would try, but didn't think it made much sense. He mentioned that the coin is about 15mm diameter, though.