Bought it. Studying it. Asking opinions on it.

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The other side.

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uhmmm... can you be more specific? what is the question.

If you're asking about authenticity, I don't see anything that screams "fake!" at me, so I think that it is probably genuine.

Is there something about it that doesn't look right to you?

The center dot on the reverse is uncommon. I did see one like it for sale by Basok.

I hope to build a decent polushka set for 1718 to 1722. The 1718 and 1722 are the ones I can't seem to find.

Looks ok to me, other than the green stuff. Are you going after all varieties of dates, arabic, cryillic, and combined (!) as well? There are a lot of error variteties in the dates as well.

I am going for variety. I have 9 coins, about 7 are different varieties. I don't have any 1718 or 1722 types. I figures these may still be collectable and untouched by the Russian Coins Arms Race (RCAR).

You know, I should submit RCAR as an official acronym to the Russian Numismatic Society, for this episode of coin prices. If there are any RNS editors out there, I asked to be creditted with RCAR (Russian Coins Arms Race) acronym as Official Designation for this episode of price escalation. Upon getting official acceptance, I may have a limited edition commerative jeton made.

If you know of a business that will strike jetons and/or coins (brass, copper, silver, gold, platinum, palladium), let me know.

Thank You.

This one is the regular arabic date variety Kadeshevsky Mint. Bitkin shows 16 die pairs. I think this is 3682. There is a neat error out there with the 9 reversed.

Im not sure if your theory about these polushkas being immune from todays prices. Rare ones will still go for big prices, but i agree, they dont look as good above the fireplace as a mint state commem ruble in a shiny slab.

The central dot is actually not uncommon on 1719 Polushkas. I see it on around 40% of the examples for which I have images.

What about relative rarity within 1718-1722 Polushkas? Based on images I have so far (and I've only recently begun examining Peter I copper) I find

1718 12 COINS
1719 72 COINS
1720 68 COINS
1721 42 COINS
1722 29 COINS

So, yes, 1718 and 1722 should be the hardest, as you are finding (or perhaps I should say not finding).


Steve

Here's a 1722 but not that nice:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=120228420693

Good find! Actually it's not too bad. Most of the time, Polushkas of this series are found in really bad condition and were often poorly struck.