Just wanting to bounce this of Ya'll. I did some searches on it but really did not turn up much. Nothing on the bay, or google. I may not have gone back far enough on pages there though.

The color is kind of washed out but it almost appears "proof like". The only book I have is an 1979 Standard catalog of World coins by Krause. So I'm out of date on all the info. No real scratches or dents, if it were U.S. I'd call it high A.U. range with proof like surfaces. Edge lettering is in good shape.
Anybody have any links on this, mintage, also approximate price now? Not selling but interested if I got a deal or not.


Actual color is darker then the top two pictures.




This picture turned up real light but it does show up some detail not seen in the other one.

I'm really not qualified to answer your question. But I'll put my foot in my mouth anyway. Prices are going up and up, thing are getting crazy!

Please do take a better pictures of your 50 kopeeks. Based on the current pictures I'd say 150 US, but I'm a buyer not a seller so I think low (often 30% off). If it is proof like then it will be a lot more.

Show us better pictures please

It is a 30 kopek right? I noticed you said 50 and the dealer actually had it marked as a 1/2 rouble. But from the 30 on the front edge I "assumed" 30. And it seems to match the Krause. (But then those are really junker pictures.) I'll try to get some up My problem is trying to upload pics. The set above took 4 hours. So it will probably be tomorrow before I get the new ones up.

No, it's a 50 kop. or half rouble as your dealer marked it. That part I'm qualified enough to help you with.

The coin looks nice, I sort of see a little nick next to the left eagle's head. But I'm not sure if it is there. My estimate is with the nick, but it is probably low like I said before.

Oh, and the edge inscription is the silver content, I don't think there is a 30 in it. It is probably part of the word зол(отник), an antiquated Russian unit of measure.

Hi.

Its Russian silver poltina, kind of better date with low mintage of 440.003 pc. (to compair with common dates)
Condition by your picture I should say from AU58-MS62, probably with prooflike fields, but again needs better pictures.
So price can be from $500-$1200, but it must be checked well or better send it to NGC or PCGS.
Also I see some blue large spot on left side of the reverse... hard to say, not really good image....
Hope it helps.

GHV

Definitely half ruble or 50 kopeks. I'm sure depending on how people write their number "5", it may look like a "3" at times. I think 150USD is a bit too low as poltinas from that era is starting to be quite difficult to find, especially in XF condition or even better. I might agree with GHV's prices - try searching for poltinas from that era - prices may shock you these days.

Maybe the Russian letter "Z" (looks like the digit "3")??

Heritage sold one in NGC "MS-64" (whatever that is) for $1,495.00 (including Buyer's Penalty) Bid Source: Live: eBay
Ended: Sep 27, 2007

Künker just sold this one in "Vorzüglich +" (probably comparable to your "high A.U." coin) for 800 Euros in January of this year (roughly $1200 at the time).

An interesting comparison is this coin which sold about 2½ years ago in "Vorzüglich". Note the huge difference in the price.

Okay, heres some other shots of the coin.









(Boy it makes it much easier finding out some info on this when you know what to look for. Thanks all for this help. )

The coin does look exceptionally nice! Try taking pictures from an angle like you did in the last 2 shots. Might be the reflective surface of the coin is interfering with the overhead shots.

I think that there might be an overdate on the last digit of the year. If the coin does not have any nicks or scratches, the price is in 1000+ territory.

There are small nicks or dings you can make them out in the side shot with the date if you look closely. Thats why I was thinking A.U. The other side is cleaner then that. The mark you see by the 4 is a small scratch/ding I did not notice until I took that picture. It has seemed to turn out a pretty good impulse buy. Picked it up for $65. Question on the tag. It was marked a 1854 HI I see that by the tail feathers. Also the C II b is the Saint-Petersburg mint mark?

Yes, minted in Saint Petersburg by mint master Nicolai Iossa (N. I.). Russian N is 'H'.

Congratulation!!! A very good coin at a very good price, even if the experts will grade it lower than AU!

Next questions. Is there a break down of mintage by mint? And was there more then one mint master at a time at the mints or just Nicolai Iossa?

440000, quoted earlier, is the mintage figure for 50 kop CPB-NI. However, this does not mean that there were 440000 of these coins minted. As R.W. Julian pointed out in one of the other threads, the mint provided figures for a fiscal year, not a number of coins issued with a specific date on them.

Nicolai Ioassa was the mint master at Saint Petersburg between 1852 and 1855, his initials would be on all coins from that mint. Silver poltinas (50 kop) were also struck in Warsaw that year, those are quite hard to find though.

In this case the mintage figure is probably accurate. As far as I know, the mint did not begin to
use the fiscal year for its published figures until 1878.

RWJ

What about the 1853 5 kop EM (this example came up earlier on the forum)? The mintage is 1.5 million, yet the coin is very rare. Most coins that year were probably struck with the 1852 date. How can we know that all 440000 were 1854?

Last question, at least I think last. Where most Russian coins from this era "proof like"?

BTW just in case any were wondering. This was not a Ebay purchase. This is from a local dealer I do a whole lot of business with but does not have Russians. At least older ones. So I could easily bring it back if any problems. Figure that was a pretty safe purchase since it would have been no problem bringing it back. I know I would not feel comfortable buying Russians off the Bay yet.

Definitely not.

If you believe that this coin is PL, I would advise having it graded by ANACS/NGC/PGC. If not now then before you decide to sell it.

Actually, we don't. The same problem plagues researchers in the early coinage
of the Philadelphia Mint. There is little doubt that we have precise calendar-year
figures for U.S. coins prior to 1836 yet it is clear that out-dated dies were often used.

There are several instances in Czarist coinage where it is clear that earlier dies
were used. Whether they were in this case would require a careful study of how
many survivors there are from surrounding coinages of this denomination.

RWJ