wabnoles Posted February 9, 2013 Report Share Posted February 9, 2013 I have what appears to be a 1901 Russian 20 kopek, but not of the rarer variety. I was looking at the ngccoin website and it mentions that this coin in VG condition is valued at roughly $22 while coins that appear to be of lower mintage are valued at $8 for the same grade. Does anyone know why it is that the 1901 is valued over double the years before and after? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wabnoles Posted February 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2013 No one can answer this question? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobh Posted February 11, 2013 Report Share Posted February 11, 2013 The Kazakov catalog, which is devoted entirely to the coinage of Nicholas II, gives about the same valuation to 20k 1901-ФЗ as to 1902. Also, according to Kazakov, the rarer mintmaster variety (АР) was struck in proof only. The catalog, published in 2004, gives prices (in US-$) of F=3, VF=10, XF=70, MS=150, and proof=500. You can find more recent auction prices for most Russian coins here: http://m-dv.ru Can you be more specific about the dates and varieties of the other 20k coins to which you are comparing this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wabnoles Posted February 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2013 I have the non-proof circulated edition of this coin (1901-ФЗ). The guide I had been using, the ngccoin guide, had a listing of all the years of this particular variety of the 20 kopek and that is what I have been using for comparison. The coin guide also mentioned that the numbers of this coin minted were similar to the editions issued the years afterwards and I just it was odd that it was listed at $22 while the others were listed at $8. I think the guide you give me is more spot on with its analysis thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobh Posted February 11, 2013 Report Share Posted February 11, 2013 I have the non-proof circulated edition of this coin (1901-ФЗ). The guide I had been using, the ngccoin guide, had a listing of all the years of this particular variety of the 20 kopek and that is what I have been using for comparison. The coin guide also mentioned that the numbers of this coin minted were similar to the editions issued the years afterwards and I just it was odd that it was listed at $22 while the others were listed at $8. I think the guide you give me is more spot on with its analysis thanks for the help. $22 seems much too expensive if only in VG grade. I think there must be some kind of error in the reference here. Maybe it was supposed to be $2 and not $22? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wabnoles Posted February 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Oh no that was no error the ngc price guide listed it at $22... actually after going back to the listing, I realized that it mentioned 1902 at $40 but $8 for every other coin afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE MOULDING Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Well it's not realistic, put it that way. $6 in F-VF is about right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wabnoles Posted February 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 yeah the pricing didn't make any sense to me either judging from what else I had been reading on it... I paid only $4 for the coin I got so all in all not too bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE MOULDING Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobh Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 As an interesting side note, I am reading Robert K. Massie's fascinating history "Nicholas and Alexandra" these days. In there he writes that in 1901, St. Petersburg had four opera houses, but Nicholas II wanted to build another, much larger and for more popular productions -- the "Narodny Dom". Entrance fee for such productions was set at 20 kopecks. Between 1893, when his father Alexander III was still Tsar, and 1900 there had been no 20 k. coins minted. I wonder if one of the motivations for reintroducing this denomination was to facilitate change-making at the ticket booths at the new theater? The USA did much the same thing in the 1850's when the postage for a regular letter was set at 3 cents. To make it easier on the postal clerks and customers buying stamps, they introduced the 3 cent silver coin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D'Ippolito Posted February 12, 2013 Report Share Posted February 12, 2013 Russia was certainly denomination happy; you had 1/4. 1/2. 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 kopeks and 1, 5, and 10 ruble coins, all at basically the same time, during Nicholas II's reign (I haven't looked closely at the books to see if there was a specific year where all of these were made, but certainly all of them were current--though the quarter ruble seems to have been very spottily produced). To top it off there were the 1897 7 1/2 and 15 ruble pieces but those were transitional pieces when the gold standard was altered so they don't really count. I can only imagine what the cash drawers in cash registers (and yes I believe those existed by the 1890s-1910s) looked like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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