The rarest copper 5 kopecks of them all - 1758 5 kopecks SPM

extant4cell · August 30, 2022

The rarest copper 5 kopecks of them all - 1758 5 kopecks SPM

(originally published here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/727063118386348 )

Here is the coin that was sold in 1932 - the ideal 5 kopecks - an impossible to get gem for any Russian copper coins collection of 18th century. It was sold again for a laughable price of $500 by Dmitry Markov "Coins & Medals" in 2016. This coin has simply gone under the radar as not so many collectors yet understood its significance.

The only 5 kopecks that we can confirm as minted by St Petersburg mint in a very small model coins production for other mints as an example of what to produce.

Just look at that eagle, it was made using the same instruments that were used to make the eagles on 1758 Rubles - a classical eagle made by a well known medalist J. Dasier. Just a fabulous coin.

In 1757 St. Petersburg mint (SPM) started minting 2 kopecks coins, making tools for its own old type overstrike production, and for their subsidiary Sestororetsk mint (SM). SPM has also made model coins and tools for Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg) mint (EM) and Moscow mint (MM). EM and MM used them as model examples and as time passed they modified their own dies that reflected their own styles of artistic engraving, though, truth to be told, the original design of SPM remained the best artistic example.

To produce the small quantity of model coins for MM and EM the St. Petersburg mint has made model dies and used them at SPM before sending coins and the tools used for the die production to MM and EM. Over the years I managed to find three or four coins that have all the attributes of SPM mint apart from the shape of the scroll that states "two kopecks". These are some of the rarest 2 kopeck coins of Elisabeth reign, though there is at least one other type of EM 2 kopecks that beats it in rarity at the end of their production.

Things were no different for the 5 kopecks in 1758 (the year when official production of these coins started). Just like with 2 kopecks, St. Petersburg mint has produced model dies and a small number of model coins for MM and EM to use as model examples. These model coins are in fact the rarest of all copper 5 kopeck coins from Elisaveta (Elizabeth) and Ekaterina II (Catherine the Great) array of 5 kopecks. All their attributes are exactly the same as on the coins made by SM mint, that SPM was making dies for. The only difference, again, is the scroll with "five kopecks" on it. It has the shape that was not used at SM but only at EM (MM coins also have a similar shape). So, it can be assumed away that tools produced for these coins ended up in EM to make more tools for coin production at EM, but the actual dies have never again been used to mint coins, only forms for the new dies.

The rarity of this 5 kopecks coin is absolute!

Only two such coins are known. One was sold by Adolph Hess in 1932 as part of "Dubletten russischer Museen" (Russian Museum Doubles sale) and in later years by Markov, while the other one was in the Count Tolsoy collection. It was featured in the famous prince Georgy Mikhailovich catalogues of Russian Imperial Coins and presently is kept in Hermitage Museum in Russia. In prince Georgy Mikhailovich's collection this coin was missing (site Numistika features these catalogue with ability to download them for free).

These are the rarest and thus the most valuable 5 kopecks coins made between 1758 and 1796. The real value of this coin cannot be underestimated any longer, as none of the Russian copper coin collections of 18th century is complete without one of them - the headmaster of the 5 kopecks collection.

What do you think the real price of such a magnificent and important coin should be if it ever hits the auctions again?

Naturally this coin is featured in the catalogue of Russian coins with explanations of its rarity: Catalog of 2 & 5 kopecks of Elizabeth 1757-1762 | 4 & 10 kopecks of Peter III 1762 with Album (Atlas) of over 100 Images and 27 types sorted according to the mints that produced them (in Russian)

References:
1) Adolph Hess in 1932 as part of "Dubletten russischer Museen" Russian Museum Doubles sale
2) Prince Georgy Mikhailovich catalogues of Russian Imperial Coins
3) Catalog of 2 & 5 kopecks of Elizabeth 1757-1762 4 & 10 kopecks of Peter III 1762 with Album of over 100 Images and 27 types (in Russian)