Seems quite "odd" to me. Notice the dots around the dentricles, which I haven't quite noticed until I took this photo and looked at the edge:

They're doticles.



(Sorry I couldn't help it. Go on about your business.)

Probably they are.

Would guess that it is die damage. Probably chips broken off the die between the denticles, which would be incuse on the die, so the gaps between would be the high fields. Small chips break off, leaving the "dots" you see.

I don't have a Redbook in front of me but I remember a Large Cent (or large Half Cent) where a particular piece had stars tucked under the denticles... was it an early (1700's era cent?)

Anyway, this reminds me of that particular fantasy piece. A mint employee going wild or even an experimental set of dies that got pressed into service in a pinch.

http://www.coinfacts.com/large_cents/liber...ge_cent_s48.htm

The 1794 large Cent.

That's cool.

Can it be a cast fake?

It can be a possible counterfeit - I wouldn't be too suprised, but will be disappointed

Two more pictures of the same ruble here:





I did a check against all the other rubles that I have, but all of them have been giving different readings!

1834 (this ruble), 20.9grams, 35.36mm (diameter), 2.44mm (thickness)
1834 (other one), 20.7grams, 35.93mm (diameter), 2.25mm (thickness)
1839 Borodin, 20.9grams, 35.87mm (diameter), 2.35mm (thickness)

There seems to be someone on eBay selling both the Alexsanderine Column and the Borodin ruble. His Column ruble is at 20.55grams and Borodin ruble at 20.82grams.

Could it be the secret police sending covert messages to their 'sleepers'!?