Anything can be a collectible in our world. From candy wrappers to works of art or cars. Passionate collectors are ready to part with a round sum of money or go to any folly to get a rare copy. Antique coins are a vivid confirmation of this. Other numismatists are ready to sell their souls in order to be able to replenish their collection with one or another symbol of commodity-money relations of different times. But coin to coin discord. Of course, all banknotes that were ever used on the territory of the country are of historical value. But the rare coins of Russia are of numismatic value. Those that were minted in a limited edition, or those that were preserved only in single copies. We’ll talk about them, but at the same time plunge into the history of metal money in Russia.
The most ancient coins are considered to be the goldsmiths of Prince Vladimir. It is assumed that they were minted after the baptism of Russia. Only about 10 pieces have survived to our days, and therefore their value in collector circles will be sky-high, even if the state of the coin is far from ideal.
A unique coin is the Ugric gold, which appeared under Ivan the Third. The prototype for coinage was the Hungarian ducat. In honor of him, the second name of this coin appeared - ducat.
At the beginning of the 16th century, another extremely rare coin was born - the hryvnia. The thing is that up to this point the hryvnia was exclusively silver. And under Prince Vasily the Third, gold was used to mint this coin. On one side of it is depicted George the Victorious defeating the snake, and on the other a two-headed eagle. Doesn’t resemble anything? As they say, all new is well forgotten old.
But we continue to consider such rare coins of Russia as gold Ugric. In addition to the end of the 15th century, they were also minted under Boris Godunov (chervonets) and under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (double gold Ugric). Created specifically for royal awards. It is now known that only one copy of the first coin is preserved and two - the second.
Until now, it has been a question of hand-minted coins. Peter the Great introduced mechanical coinage. But not all of his innovations took root. So, in 1718, a two-ruble gold coin was introduced into everyday life, some copies of which are still preserved to this day. But her silver counterpart has failed completely.
Elisavetin Zolotoy also remained at the trial stage - a coin with a face value of 10 rubles, which has not received approval.
In 1825, rare coins of Russia were supplemented by another model, which was not yet included in the everyday life - the “Konstantinovsky ruble”. The heir to Alexander the Great was to become the Grand Duke Constantine. The leaders of the mint hastened and issued a silver ruble with his portrait. However, the prince abdicated, and the coins were withdrawn from circulation. Now only six remaining copies are known.
Of course, this is far from a complete list of samples so desired by numismatists. In the history of Russia there were many more. However, describing the rare coins of Russia, it would be wrong not to mention our days. In modern Russia there are also a lot of rare coins. A lot of collectors who collect them and are not interested in tsarist times. There are a lot of people whose collections are dedicated to a certain topic. Often in such meetings you can find 10 anniversary rubles. What is their value? A lot of them were released, and therefore it’s unlikely that it will be possible to make a lot of money for them. Among modern coins, there are more expensive ones. But that is another topic.