IgorS

Novodel's production of the Imperial period coins by the Mint at St. Petersburg stopped in the last quarter of the 19th century. Keep that in mind when you say Novodel.

bobh, nice run of NII poltinas I once attempted the same for the roubles of NII, so I know it does not come easy. I have only a few poltinas, but this one I like. It is ex Virgil Brand.

BTW, What you call "chicken type" in Russia these days identified using Ukrainian word 'bdjhilka" - "a bee"

I just checked and the second book (second edition) by Willy Fuchs is in German and English. The first edition was in German only.

Sounds interesting. I have two books in German by Willy Fuchs (the famous collector of Russian coins) on platinum coins and medals of the world, but they are just catalogs. If I may, a suggestion - since there are so many fake platinum coins out there, you should have a chapter on counterfeit detection. Auction results are interesting, but I am not sure they will show the true picture, since the market is all over the place lately. In any case - good luck!

Congratulations on an important book In a 1978 book on Hedlinger that I have there are the following images related to Russia: 3 different medals of Anna, a medal for count Ostermann, one-sided (unfinished) medal of Elizabeth, and.... the FAMOUS Hedlinger rouble. I wonder what images/information were compiled into this early book.

The Foundation of the Moscow University medal is by Dassier with a beautifull portrait of Elizabeth (slightly similar to the rouble). BTW, it is unlikely that actual student award medals were in copper, so your medal is probably a novodel.

Diakov 109.1 or 109.2. Prize medal to students by Yudin. There should be russian letter "yu" (for Yudin) above the exergue line. If "yu" is on the left side - it is 109.1 (R1 in copper), if "yu" is on the right side - it is 109.2 (common in copper). You should get the companion medal from the next century - http://cgi.ebay.com/RUSSIA-CA-1855-MOSCOW-...alenotsupported

I would be content as well. I was merely making a point of comparing rarity to rarity.

No problem. But let's say the copy was more scarce than the original. Would that make it more desirable to own a copy instead? Not for me.

Here it is:

In the evening I will scan a page from the catalog and post it here. Your medal is made from so called "white metal". White metal medals were the most affordable for collectors back in the day (now as well). Most of the medal collectors in Russian today are not interested in white metal medals. But, I do not see any reason for it, other than the fact that they are susceptible to corrosion.

AR, AE, AG in his catalogs are not after each medal. Let's take 97.2 for example. It mentiones AR R2 (in silver rarity R2). No other metals are mentioned. That does not mean that this medal does not exist in copper, it just means that in author's oppinion this medal is common in copper and does not deserve rarity rating. Actually, if you look lower, you will see that copper medal sold in WWCC auction 21. As a side point, starting with book part 4 author added rarity rating R0 (parts 1-3 had lowest rarity rating R1) to identify medals that are one notch up from common. So R1 is equivalent of RR and R0 is equivalent of R.

Some clarification - Diakov does not list medals by metal. If he thinks that some medal in some metal is more than just common, he simply expresses his opinion on the rarity of that medal in that metal. The assumption is that medal might exist in all metals used for striking medals. I have not seen the new book yet, by I thought that Bitkin's new book is only on award medals for wear.

Interesting medal, but not too many collectors in Russia would be interested in it, for obvious reasons. If you look at the original Peter the Great Northern war medals by Muller - they can bring around $40K each in auctions. The same engraver, but the other side's victories - bring the fraction of that.

1702 Russian Peter I poltina.

This catalog's valuations (or any other recent Russian catalog) were too low at the time the catalog was published. By now they are completely outdated, even if you assume the valuations are in Euro or even British Pounds.

The other side:

Yes, it is mine. From the good old days. Here is the one with ribbon. Some weekness in the middle of the eagle, but still pleasant.

The other side

Here is one with arabic date.

No one can beat the offer from antikvarius for $120. In addition, no one in US sells these books accept for valeriyavaleriya (and possibly Markov), but you already know their price.

Actually, the list is not bad. It lists identifiable mint marks on so called "business strike" coins.