bobh Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 The reference work by H. M. Severin "The Silver Coinage of Imperial Russia 1682-1917" lists oversize roubles for several different years and mints during the reign of Nicholas II. The normal diameter for a rouble of this series is 33.7mm as given by Severin; the oversize roubles are as follows; the columns are (-1-) Severin's coin number, (-2-) rarity, (-3-) year and mintmaster or mintmark: 4052 ... (./) ... 1898-* (Paris mint) - struck in white metal, 36.8mm diameter (pattern?) 4069 ... (./) ... 1899-** (Brussels mint) - Size 36mm (large head) 4072 ... (./) ... 1899-ФЗ (St. Petersburg mint) - Size 35mm (large head) 4094 ... (./) ... 1901-ФЗ (St. Petersburg mint) - Size 35mm (no mention of large head) After 1901, there are no other oversize roubles mentioned. I couldn't find any reference to these in any other works at my disposal (Kazakov, Uzdenikov, Bitkin, Julian, Rylov/Sobolin, Adrianov). Has anyone ever seen one of these, or know of other references to them? I know that there are pattern coins in the Hermitage Museum collection, but these are uniface lead strikes and most likely unique. The rarity rating given by Severin (./) is not as rare as the smooth edge roubles, for example, and presumably not unique; this is a little puzzling because one would think these oversize roubles would pop up once in awhile at auction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobh Posted February 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Bump ... anyone??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgorS Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 I checked a few more books, but did not find anything on it. Yusupov mentions these in his work, but refers back to Severin. I was once very persistant in trying to collect all the Nicholas II roubles, but never came across these. Not sure where Severin extracted the information from, but it probably somehow relates to a few different portrait dies used in some of those years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobh Posted February 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 I checked a few more books, but did not find anything on it. Yusupov mentions these in his work, but refers back to Severin. I was once very persistant in trying to collect all the Nicholas II roubles, but never came across these. Not sure where Severin extracted the information from, but it probably somehow relates to a few different portrait dies used in some of those years. Thanks, IgorS! If the diameter of a coin is that much bigger than normal, these MUST have been some kind of patterns; otherwise, the whole control over the weight and thus the amount of silver would have been skewed. One can only wonder where Severin obtained this information which seems very precise (N.B. in the year 1962!), in spite of the fact that nobody else seems to be aware of their existence, much less even seen one. How far did you get with your Nicholas II rouble collection, BTW? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgorS Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 How far did you get with your Nicholas II rouble collection, BTW? I was able to collect all the year/mint/mintmaster combinations (1904 was the only VF), Brussels "pattern", 3 different years with plain edge.... at that point I cooled off with 19th century (I was trying to get all the other years as well). Onto the 18th century with pretty (and not so pretty) and different portraits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobh Posted February 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 I was able to collect all the year/mint/mintmaster combinations (1904 was the only VF), Brussels "pattern", 3 different years with plain edge.... at that point I cooled off with 19th century (I was trying to get all the other years as well). Onto the 18th century with pretty (and not so pretty) and different portraits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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