Here's my 1855. GX, I saw your 1854 the other night, and I don't recall if it's an HI...but, that's the mintmaster, no? If so, see, I've been doing a little studying. Learned I should spell these, "rubles," too. Anyway, this one does look like it had been double-hinged. And then, somebody comes along and botches it up worse, by removing them. :headbang: At least, that's how it looks to me. Any further insights, I'd appreciate it. And thanks, all, for looking.
Actually, I don't know why they call them "hinges," as they don't swing. But, do you see those two black spots on top? That looks like where somebody may have blow-torched these off. I'll show you what a single one looks like. I have an extremely worn 1809 I also want to know more about with one of these on it, and, I'll post it, later, sometime tonight. Just that right now, I'm doing like five different things at once, probably the most important of which is trying to follow this crazy All-Star game, which, if I turn my head for very long, I fear I'm going to miss, because they just got through like the first four innings in six minutes! Anyway, probably a better word for these hinges is "loops." They'd solder these on, thereby converting the coins to jewelry. Just stay tuned. I'll get that 1809 scanned and up sometime tonight. Probably just after the game. Probably, at the rate this one is going, in the next twenty minutes or so.
It's a shame - I admit that I haven't seen a ruble that worn. You got something there. 1855 ruble might be one of the more common years but as you can see on ebay, prices for ANY rubles are just outrageously priced, even for damaged rubles. Thanks for showing eddiespin.
