Just missing the 1990 M 10 kopek and 1991 no mintmark coins - these are tough. The toughest coins in this lot is 1965-1969. Other coins can be seen here if you are interested: http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_3k_24_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_3k_61_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_5k_24_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_5k_61_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_10k_24_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_15k_61_pg1_small.jpg http://gxseries.com/dump/russia_50k_61_pg1_small.jpg Unfortunately it's taking too much time to make one of this pages as I need to rephotograph some of the coins and it takes a while to put it in photoshop.
Those are beautiful collections that bear witness to your dedication. Bravo! I like your virtual album design also - a superb presentation!
Always good to see what you're putting together, gxseries. I always enjoy other people's "Less Commonly Collected Coins" here at CT. Hey, maybe that should be a new forum here? They could call it LCCC. What average condition are shooting for in this collection? AU and higher? They all seem to be at least that, or in MS condition. I'm just asking, because I try to maintain an minimum condition in my collections. My US Lincoln cent collection is at least "Fine-12" condition and higher, for example.
Very impressive. Many people have no idea how tough these sets are. Even coins made in huge numbers were often not saved. Russians made very little attempt to save or collect them and there was little more interest in the US. Find- ing uncs can be a challenge for almost any date.
Thanks everyone for your kind comment. mlov43, to answer your question, grade isn't really a concern for me as long as the price is "reasonable" or a "bargain". In particular if it's a key date, I'm happy to have a low grade coin or a filler. My motto is, as long as I have a tough key date regardless of the condition AND you know it is a baragain, it will always remain to be desirable and I can upgrade it later when I can find one. So far, it has been working for me as I can still sell the key date for what I have paid for. cladking - I think what most people don't realize is a lot of Soviet coins struck in between 1965-1975 in particular 5 kopek onwards weren't really readily available to the public. If you noticed the condition of the coins that I have shown, the 10 kopek coins from 1965 to 1968 appear to be from stripped apart mint sets. Prices of these coins have been rising sharply and are getting harder to find. For instance, one of the rarest key date is the 1970 15 kopek which has been sold for almost 500 dollars - quite hefty in my opinion! My best advice is to keep it simple and not attempt to collect by year because this is insane expensive!!! A type set should be reasonably affordable but not this!
