gxseries Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 No no, I am not trying to start a new Cold War topic but instead, to look at the impact of Russian-related coinage on the rest of the world. The very first Russian coinage is generally agreed that was first minted in Ukraine, with the image of Byzantine and Christian motifs, as well as the baptism of Russia into Christianity in the same year. Who would know than other than the ex-Soviet nations had Russian influence on their coinages. If you remember history right, Russia has been pushing her borders to the Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Indeed that is a very frightening sight as Russia managed to have unique coinages for Poland, Moldava / Romania, Finland, Georgia, Prussia by the end of 1917. Some of them lasted for very short period of time, indeed a matter of just a couple of years or so, but even so, to successfully manage to circulate designs made by her own countrymen was some amazing feat. To add to the feat, when Imperial Russia fell and the Soviet government was placed, all of the ex-Soviet countries, whether they liked it or not, had to use their currencies. Another few unusual coinages / patterns that aren't too directly linked to Russia would be this: 1) Spitzbergen - A northern terrority shared between Norway and Russia. Russia released "coins" back in 1946 and ever since 2000 (I think) released plenty of nonsense commemorative coins 2) Mongolia - When the Soviet government gave a hand in Mongolia back in 1934, Mongolians were forced to learn cyrillic. Or rather, thanks to the Soviet government, perhaps the illterate rate have decreased. But of course, the written education was given in cyrillic. (Mongol is NOT an easy language to master though!!!) 3) China (!!!) - Back in 1949 when China declared herself as Communist, there were prototypes of gold coins to feature both Lenin and Stalin. *shudder* 4) Korea (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) If you are to read my other post about the Korean coinage under the Japanese Protectrate era, it will give you another interesting aspect of what happened back in 1901-2. Link Auction number 161-163. Those coins were actually a set of pattern coins. 5) (minor) Dual coinage of the 1902 37.5ruble-100franc coin. This too was a contriversal coin but was only meant for foreign payment, never intended to be used for local payment. There might be more, but these are the ones that I know for the moment. Imagine if such pattern coins became coins were minted for circulation... now that would mean that Russia would have single handly influenced at least 1/3 of the world, which is a good challenge against the Roman Empire coinages and perhaps only to be superseeded by the British mornachy which featured and still features on more than half of the world's coins. Population wise? Probably a good 25% of the world would have been Russian related if such pattern coins or history took a wrong turn. Perhaps because of Russia's interesting history that I started to collect Russian coins - I wouldn't stop collecting any time soon I guess... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottishmoney Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 3) China (!!!) - Back in 1949 when China declared herself as Communist, there were prototypes of gold coins to feature both Lenin and Stalin. *shudder* There were several issues from the 1930's Chinese Soviets that featured Lenin. However it is very difficult to determine if they are fantasies or an actual issued coinage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grivna1726 Posted May 2, 2006 Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Link Auction number 161-163. Those coins were actually a set of pattern coins. gx, thank you for the link to these rare coins. Those are the clearest pictures I have ever seen of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikaros Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 There were several issues from the 1930's Chinese Soviets that featured Lenin. However it is very difficult to determine if they are fantasies or an actual issued coinage. Krause lists at least one Chinese issue with a portrait of Lenin--I don't have my copy handy at the moment for details, but I remember seeing it as I was flipping through to another section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted May 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 This is an example of the Chinese-Soviet cash that was minted. I am not too sure if these coins actually did circulate. http://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=3705 And perhaps this is the Lenin coin that we are talking about? http://www.charm.ru/coins/unkn/lenin-machine-struck.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted September 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 I'm bringing this topic back alive since I have found some interesting coins / materials and will illustrate them from time to time. During the near end Soviet era, appearently Leningrad mint have minted trial coins for Armeria. (1991) St. Petersburg still mint coins for Tajikistan but I'm not too sure about the rest of the ex-Soviet coins. Chervonets.com used to have the Armeria trial coins, but I was dumb enough not to buy them. You can see the examples of the Tajikistan coins in there - in particular the bimetal coins. I have read somewhere in the past that during the Tsar era of Nicholai II, Iran (yes, Iran) did order from St. Petersburg to mint silver coins. I never bothered to save it properly except to give it a glance. Can anyone confirm this? As well as, some pictures for your eyes: Poland: Poland 1839 1 grosz. Poland-Russia 1835 1.5rubles-10zlots Poland-Russia 1837 3/4rubles-5zlots Finland: Finland 1917 25 pennia Moldava (Sadagura): Sadagura 1773 2para-3kopeks I have been trying to get a cheap Georgian coin but they are getting pricey these days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banivechi Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Some Georgian coins after 1991 (circulation coins) I have somewhere in my collection... maybe a complete set. Must check... If I remember corrcectly, I must have and some coins from Transnistria (a small unrecognized state separate from Moldova)... You can PM me if you are interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RW Julian Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 I have read somewhere in the past that during the Tsar era of Nicholai II, Iran (yes, Iran) did order from St. Petersburg to mint silver coins. I never bothered to save it properly except to give it a glance. Can anyone confirm this? In 1902 the St. Petersburg Mint struck "2,000,000 silver 5-crown coins" for the Persian government, according to the 1903 U.S. Mint report. There was additional coinage in 1918 and again in the 1920s. RWJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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