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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Juan Blanco, post: 1627323, member: 41665&quot;]gxseries-</p><p>Close... but no seeegar! (Well maybe some Soviet did, but that&#039;s NOT the full story of the fakes.) </p><p><br /></p><p>Heraeus tested their Pt Roubles (acquired in the 1860s Russian govt liquidation) and found &quot;fakes&quot; YES. What you allude to is described here: </p><p><a href="http://heraeus-ptcomponents.com/media/webmedia_local/medien/downloads/literatur/7_the_Minting_of_Platinum.pdf" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://heraeus-ptcomponents.com/media/webmedia_local/medien/downloads/literatur/7_the_Minting_of_Platinum.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://heraeus-ptcomponents.com/media/webmedia_local/medien/downloads/literatur/7_the_Minting_of_Platinum.pdf</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The questions are BY WHOM? and WHEN? There were rumors of fake Platinum Roubles as far back as 1829; in 1844, the Russian Foreign Minister who recalled the Pt Roubles insinuated foreigners (the British) were counterfeiting the coins (in the 1830s.) <a href="http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2010/05/russia-rouble-forgeries-may-reveal-mid.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2010/05/russia-rouble-forgeries-may-reveal-mid.html" rel="nofollow">http://noblemetals.blogspot.com/2010/05/russia-rouble-forgeries-may-reveal-mid.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>I found this on Numismaster (noting a few errors) and have points of disagreement here also. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>My critique? We don&#039;t know the difference between the Soviet, Novotel and contemporary counterfeits (I&#039;m not sure we can even call them &quot;counterfeits.&quot;) But consider the possibilities and opportunity for smuggling/arbitrage circa 1833. Heraeus and other coins recently tested are purportedly OLDER than Novodel replicas. These &quot;fakes&quot; were also struck on SPb Mint dies. So whoever minted these coins had the dies. Who (mis-)managed the Mint in the 1830s? The British. Who got blamed for the counterfeits in the 1830s? The &#039;hated foriegner.&#039; </p><p><br /></p><p>How was it possible? British merchants monopolized the platina trade with Colombia at this time. &#039;Juan Blanco&#039; was higher quality, often mixed with Gold. There was no market for this metal but the European, hence Colombian platina was dumped at a pittance when the huge platina fields were discovered in the Ourals (after 1824.) By-the-numbers;</p><p><br /></p><p>1) In the 1830s, a British merchant could legally buy (S$ 2.0/libra, Spot-Price at Popyan, Choco, etc.) &amp; export &#039;Juan Blanco&#039; in bulk (10 libras=147.92 ozt) for S$25.<b> (= <b>£ 5.0)</b> </b></p><p>2) Assume a merchant cost/mark-up of 50% <b>(...=£ 7.50)</b> plus the known UK import tariff for platina <b>(...=£ 8.)</b> a likely UK Colombia platina import cost in 1833.</p><p>3) Assume the Colombian platina (~75% purity <b>= 110.64 ozt</b>) refined at Wollaston&#039;s cost, 2s./ozt <b>(...=£ 19.) </b>a likely cost-basis this refined Pt. &amp;excl. value of slag (PGMs, Au, etc.) </p><p>4) How many Platinum Roubles could be coined from 110 ozt pure Pt? At 16.92 g per, 203 6-руб coins, or <b>1,218 руб. worth £ 0.1717 per руб. </b>(Silver Rouble Rate, against Sterling.)</p><p>5) What would the <i>coining </i>cost basis be? Assume 1s. per coin <b>(...=£ 29., to produce 1,218 руб. ) </b></p><p><b></b>6) This #/value Pt Rouble coins (rated at the Silver руб.) was then <b>£ 209. </b><u>Profit was 6x more than the counterfeiting cost-basis</u>, (paying off flunkies, etc. offsets the 30 ozt PGM/Au slag)</p><p><br /></p><p>Was this an incentive?! It certainly was. Was this possible? Absolutely. As example how small the Platinum world was then, it was Percival Norton Johnson (of J-M fame) who showed the Russian Govt how to refined Pt. When he began refining considerable quantities of Brazilian auro-platina in the early 1830s, the European Pd price collapsed ~90%. (He also kept the Pt/Pd slag at <i>no cost </i>but his refining!) So PN Johnson could&#039;ve literally destroyed the global Pt market at any time. It was widely assumed by everyone that he made a fortune by this trade: so he did.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now consider the alternatives. The suggestion that the Soviets coined for collectors in the 1920s is highly dubious, because numismatic prices in the 1920s were near melt. LOW, LOW PREMIUMS! It&#039;s more plausible the Russian Mint produced Novotel coins in the mid-1880s or 1890s, when Pt prices were low, because when PT soared (1890; 1905; 1912, 1917) the numismatic premiums did not. But that theory still doesn&#039;t refute <i>all the counterfeiting reports from early 19th C.</i> The earliest coin Pt profit-margins would have been HUGE. In the 1920s, not so much (maybe, none.) And the &quot;purity&quot; of the fakes is overstated; Colombian Pt meets the signature. </p><p><br /></p><p>I suppose there might be counterfeits from several periods but most appear to pre-date the Novodel issues.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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