1991 Final Soviet Coins

I'm mostly a US collector, but my total lack of focus lately has me shooting off in all directions.

I recently read that high inflation in the former Soviet Union prompted them to mint new coins in 1991. The mintage began in December, but the Soviet Union dissolved on 26 December 1991 and the mintage stopped.

I imagine most of those coins were hoarded by collectors and not rare. However, I was curious if anyone knows what the final mintages are. I believe there were 10 and 50 Kopeek coins and 1, 5, and 10 Ruble coins.

I searched past posts and the internet, but couldn't come up with any numbers...Thanks!

 

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Krause doesn't have them, sorry.

 

Thanks for checking...and pardon my ignorance, it "Krause" a world coin guide...like the Red Book?

 

Yep, short for the Standard Catalog of World Coins by Krause Publications.

 

Could that be the pieces which the Krause lists as "Government Bank Issues"? 10 and 50 kopeks; 1, 5 and 10 rubles, all dated 1991 (plus a 10 rubles 1992 error piece). Judging from the Krause prices/values, the '91 coins seem to be fairly common ...

Christian

 

I imagine that the entire mintage was hoarded in Unc grades. Even a mintage of 100,000 wouldn't be rare if everyone that wants one has one. I was just curious what the final mintages are.

I have a few of these coins and need the info for my records.

 

now i know why joe likes you. its good to see a coin collector without an ego. its almost as rare as a 1933 DE.

 

The State Bank of the USSR and the Central Bank of Russian Federation never publish the mintage figures of regular circulating coins.

 

That apparently applies to several countries; same thing in Romania for example. As for the mintages of these central bank coins, the Schön says 60,000 for the 10 rubles 1992 (the error piece so to say which Tane shows us here). The Endangered Animals coins (5 rubles, two issues) of 1991 had a mintage of 500,000 each, but those don't really count, I suppose.

Christian

 

Well, that would explain why I can't find the numbers. I found a site that had mintage numbers for the commemoratives, but not the circulating coins.

Since they were minted for less than a month and there was a lotta turmoil at the time, I imagine they didn't make a whole lot of them...but who knows?

 

LOL...yeah, I gave Joe a "heads up" that you were back. Welcome back!

 

Thanks...I have a few of the endangered animals, also. They showed up as commemorative coins with the mintages you report.

Not to get too far off subject, but I really like Romainian coins, too. Is that what you collect?

 

10 roubbles 1991, bi-metallic, 5,97 g. Coins of this type circulated only a several months.

 

Many other post-Soviet states also don't publish any numbers on circulating issues.

It would be interesting to know where is that 60.000 pcs from. That would be quite a large mintage for such a scarce coin in my opinion. It by the way is not really an error, I believe they just started minting next year's coins beforehand not knowing that the issuing country would disappear before the supposed date of issue.

10 roubles 1991 MMD is the rarest of the series, even rarer than the 1992 10 roubles. :eat:

 

1 roubel 1991, copper-nickel.

 

So where,s the market on these? Also are they still legal tender?

 

Yup...that's one of them!

 

While I do have a few, I do not find the current coins from Romania very attractive: The circulation coins are fairly dull, and the commemorative coins have neat (and sometimes great) designs but extremely low mintages, like 250 or 500 pieces ...

Nah, I focus on coins from here, Federal Republic of Germany (DM and €), and euro coins from other countries. Plus, for various reasons, modern coins from the UK, Switzerland, and the US - and whatever else I find interesting.

Christian

 

They are not legal tender any more. There was a monetary reform in 1998, and nothing older than 1997 is legal tender now.

 

5 roubles 1991, copper-nickel.