mishmash

Igor I am not familiar with Russian auction firms so I would not know - but your making that statement makes me suspicious of them all. As it is, most won't ship out of the Russia. I notice there are more than a handful of firms.

Thanks, yes I did get it for under $3000, and I understood what you mentioned above. I actually missed the NIKO sale, and I see it went unsold at 3K thanks for pointing that out. I had thought the last time it came up was in 2012 were it sold for $8600 at Numismatica Genevensis. It sold for almost $13000 a few years before that raw at G&M. Regardless I am very happy with it. It is well graded and deserves the AU53 designation. While this example has some subtle rub it is overly lustrous, original, and retains much charm.

I won this cool Poltina (Stack's Lot 3330), and noticed this exact example sold raw, has a few auction appearances in the last 10 years or so. The prices realized in all previous sales was pretty much more than what I got it for. Can anyone advise why is that so, or did I just get lucky?