Looks like Krause-Mishler might have gotten the mintage figures here wrong by a factor of 1,000 again -- Rylov/Sobolin show 3 million+ while KM shows only 3 thousand+...more minted than in 1893, apparently (of course, since these are fiscal years, many 1894 coins were probably struck well into 1895). But that doesn't affect the comparison to 1893 which would also be affected by the fiscal vs. calendar year reckoning. I say "again" because there are similar errors in mintage figures given for some Russian gold coins -- usually at the very end of a series.

Anyway, RW Julian's reference gives 1894 an "S" for scarce. I've seen a fair number of 1894 roubles offered on eBay ... was there ever a study of relative scarcity conducted on these years?

(bump...)

Maybe the scarcity combined with a desire on the part of forgers to help you out have coalesced to provide you with the "next best thing"?

The November 23, 1982 edition of World Coin News published an article by Bob Kovalchik reporting on 2 surveys which he conducted from 1965-70 and 1975-80, keeping track of roubles by date as offered in catalogs, dealer lists, coin shows and viewing private collections as well as the stock of the USSR's Bank for Foreign Trade and major European coin centers (i.e. an apparently reasonably, if not entirely, comprehensive review). There was no attempt to keep track of coin condition, just to count the appearances of roubles by date.

For regular issue Alexander III roubles, here are some of the results Kovalchik reported:

Date....1965-70....1975-80

1890.........9.............19

1891........14............31

1892........35............46

1893........31............49

1894........16............26

I wonder if some of these (especially in the more active 1975-80 market) might be multiple appearances of the same coin.

Thanks, grivna1726!

Looks like all Alexander III roubles are somewhat scarce; however, the relative results certainly indicate that the mintage number given by the KM catalog is probably much too low.