Good job, Sigi!

For a long time up until the very end of the auction, it looked like most people didn't know what this coin really was:

1796-EM pyatak (Paul's overstriking)

Although I was the unlucky underbidder on this one, I am very happy to know that it has found a nice home!

Bob, Sigi...are we sure it's a Paul overstrike. The almost invisible undercoin 9 doesn't look like it's in the right place for a Cipher. It does look it's in the right place of a grossly off-center mistruck regular issue, later corrected. I'm just a little cautious and am looking further. What else can you guys see that indicates there was a cipher?

Steve

...ok...I think I see the Cipher on the other side
Starting to look a lot better !

Agreed! Cipher!! Great job guys!



Steve

There's probably more to see when holding the coin in hand ... but here's what I was able to see on the images. Mostly I noticed the dividing line above the date, the "9" and some little circles along the rim on the obverse:



There is something which looks like the outline of the letter "E" with a greenish color, but it looks too far down -- however, the faint outline of the crown shows up nicely under magnification.

Wowzer - nice one. Good eyes Bobh! Caught the figure 9 immediately - that's the way to stop an overstrike immediately

Right. Exactly. The Cipher was definitely struck off-center, and this threw me off at first. The under-9 isn't in the right place and the large Cipher E _is_ indeed there but again is out of place. However, a 9, Cipher, crown and small circle at the tip of right wing (all of which I saw on closer inspection) sealed it for me.

Steve

Great catch! congrats!

Very attractive.

Thank you everybody! I still have to receive the coin to be sure that it is genuine. I think the color is a bit off, I have seen cast fakes of regular 5kop with a purplish tint. The edge and the ring test will tell.
Will then post large pictures to show off. Sigi

By sigistenz
Coin received, have no doubt about authenticity. Click on upper rim of picture to enlarge. The enlarged picture can still be enlarged. The coin reveals its secret only at 2nd or 3rd glance. I enhanced my scan to show the features of the undercoin.
On the monogram side the exergue line of the undercoin shows horizontally. Below see "9" of 1796. Above exergue line see "K" and "E" of KOPEEK. And above the "E" of KOPEEK is the reversed R of DESYAT.

Thanks a lot for the better pictures, Sigi!

It looks almost like when the coin was overstruck, it already had some green verdigris on it which stuck to the outline of the monogram and a few other details. I can see all of the other details you mentioned quite clearly now with your larger images.