I was at a Flea Mkt. talking to an older coin collector there selling Common coins. Like Fishing tales, we was swapping "Coin Tales" and the ones that got away. He mentioned to dig through the ever present bowl or box of "FOREIGN" coins looking for "OLD" Russian coins. They Minted Platinum coins in a lower denomination for short period not knowing the metal was valuable then recalled them back. Not all returned. Now this might be a PURE fish story but I have to know the truth. I mean it is feasible thinking a "new metal" was found and made good coins. Anyone know the truth? Ok now you can laugh.
They minted platinum coins for circulation from 1828 to 1845 under Nicholas I (1825-1855) but they were 3, 6 and 12 ruble coins (10.36g, 20.71g and 41.41g), which were not low denominations. Under Nicholas I they also minted 5 ruble coins in gold (6.54g), making platinum cheaper than gold (as it is today). But if the 5 rubles was gold, the 3, 6 and 12 rubles were not low value coins. They struck 1.3m 3 rubles, 15k 6 rubles and 3.5k 12 rubles. These platinum coins fetch high prices now (over USD1000), but that's not just because of the value of the metal. They were demonetised in 1845 and melted down, so are rare, although Novodels were minted identical to the originals and there are plenty of fakes.
thank you, so it was NOT totally a "coin tale" still might be worth digging through foreign bowls of coins that folks might not know what they have looking for the "1909 S V.D.B." of the Russian world. thanks for the info friend
I'd just come upon a story about a Russian platinum coin a few days ago: https://www.pcgs.com/news/generatio...crowned-the-worlds-most-expensive-non-us-coin
Platinum seemed to be a great metal to mint coins in - it was rare (but not excessively so), supply was controlled and it was insanely non-corrosive (no tarnish, pitting, etc). But while it suffered from issues like the fact it couldn’t be melted in standard furnaces easily (melts too high), was crazy hard (so the dies had to be reworked too often) - it’s ultimate problem was that it looked too much like silver. One of the main uses of these coins would be to make counterfeits of gold coins in Britain and Spain... it was the only obtainable metal then that was denser than gold. So alloying it with another cheap lower density metal could give the same density as gold. As simple gold wash or plate would give a coin that would pass for a sovereign until the plating wore off! Examples of these come up for sale every now and then.
A lot of the gold plated platinum fakes originated in Spain, France etc ca. the late 1860s and early 1870s. There are also restrikes of 19th century French, Italian, Swiss etc LMU coins that were done in platinum in the 1950s for a collector - they come up for auction with Goldbergs from time to time.
