The Silver Coinage of Russia
1807-1810
The coinage of Alexander I, for the years immediately following the reopening of the Fortress Mint in 1806–
1807, is among the most interesting in the long history of Russian numismatics. In 1799 the fortress mint in St. Petersburg had been closed because the walls were in a dangerous condition.
From 1799 to 1805/1806 the silver and gold coinage of Russia was struck at the Assignat Bank, not far from the fortress, while the new mint building was erected and the old one abandoned to other uses. At the same time, new minting machinery was purchased from Matthew Boulton, the famed English private coiner and industrialist.
The new mint was occupied during 1806 and by the fall of 1807 was nearly ready to begin coinage. It was not until November 1807, however, that Alexander I finally gave the order to begin full-scale mintage. He had already chosen the revised design for the ruble, similar to the 1802–1805 type, but with significant changes. The ruble of 1807 has altogether much better artwork than its predecessor.
Very few silver coins, except for rubles, were struck from 1807 to 1810 because of the ongoing war with Turkey and the generally deteriorating European situation due to the endless wars involved with the French Emperor Napoleon. Small silver coins seeped out of Russia via the war zone near the Black Sea and the Treasury decided to counterfeit Turkish silver piasters so that Russian coins would stay at home.
The false Turkish piasters were duly made at St. Petersburg but the product was too good and residents where such pieces were distributed quickly became suspicious of the new coinage. Turkish silver coins from the state mint at Istanbul (Constantinople) were usually carelessly struck and the better Russian product soon destroyed the scheme even though the correct amount of silver was put into each piece. In the latter part of 1809, the Treasury reluctantly authorized an increase in regular minor silver coinage.
The smallest silver coin struck for the design in use from 1807 through 1810 was the grivennik or 10 kopeks, first minted in 1808. From 1802 to 1805 under Alexander, this denomination was also struck, but collectors find the earlier pieces easier to obtain. The 1802 date in particular, even though relatively scarce, resides in quite a few collections.
Even when found, the grivennik of 1808–1810 is seldom seen in superior condition and most collectors will have to be content with a coin grading about Fine or perhaps a bit higher in grade. Specimens in Extremely Fine or
better bring good prices when offered privately or at public auction.
The 1808 grivennik is perhaps better called a pattern because there is no mint report and surviving specimens are all of extreme rarity. These may well have been coined in small numbers for examination by Alexander I and Treasury officials in determining the final appearance of the new coinage.
For 1809 the Mint reported a mere 35,000 grivenniks and the present rarity well reflects this figure. Original coins of 1809 have the mintmaster initials MK (Mikhail Kleiner) but another slightly less rare 10 kopeks also exists with the 1809 date. This one, struck between about
1815 and 1840, has the mintmaster initials FG for Fedor Helman. (The Russian ‘G’ is used for both G and H of the Latin alphabet.)
It is only when we get to 1810 that the type is at least collectible, though barely. There are two varieties of the 1810 10 kopecks (design of 1807) but only one of these, with the initials of Fedor Helman, is an original while the initials of Mikhail Kleiner grace the novodel (restrike) made in later years. Because the initials are different, the restrikes of the 10 kopeks for 1809–1810 are easy to distinguish. The 1810 FG also exists in copper, perhaps a striking from the 1820s or 1830s.
(Most of the older dies were destroyed by order of Emperor Nicholas I in 1840 though no doubt some escaped the Imperial order. This ruler thought that it was improper to restrike old coins for collectors.)
The mintage for 1810 is 77,000, but this includes the new design of 10 kopeks introduced in the latter part of 1810, and at present there is no breakdown of this total figure. Judging from rarity, however, it may be estimated that perhaps 40 to 45 thousand of the first type were made, the remainder being of the new design. In all, the 1808–1810 grivennik may have had about 75,000 pieces coined, a very small number considering that type collectors today have an increasingly difficult time finding a decent specimen of this short series.
There are no confirmed overdates for the 1808–1810 series of 10 kopeks, but the 1810 FG is believed to exist as 1810/09. Perhaps a reader of World Coin News will be able to confirm this overdate.
Polupoltinniks (a quarter ruble or 25 kopeks) of 1808– 1810 are somewhat easier to locate than the 10 kopeks, though still by no means an easy task. (Quarter rubles of 1802–1805 are seen much more often than their later cousins using the design of 1808.)
As with the smaller silver coin, the 1808 FG quarter ruble is an extremely rare coin which has no mintage statistic.
These may also have been pattern coins submitted to the Court and Treasury for a final decision concerning the design. They may
also have been struck in small numbers during 1809 with an outdated die.
There exists a novodel (restrike) 1808 FG 25 kopeks which is only slightly less rare than the original. It is somewhat difficult to distinguish between the two and one must look at the reverse wreath very carefully. The restrike has two berries each behind the third and fourth laurel buds counting from the top of the wreath.
The 1809 polupoltina exists with two mintmaster initials, FG and MK, both original according to specialists writing in the nineteenth century. The FG issue is very rare while the MK version can be found with some difficulty. It is the second most ‘common’ quarter ruble of 1808–1810 if such a term can be used.
Collectors usually acquire the 1810 FG quarter rule for their collections as it appears to be the most available of the 1808–1810 type. There is also a novodel for the 1810 coinage, using the same reverse as the 1808 restrike. Oddly enough, the famous Goodman collection had only two coins of this type, compared to seven of the 1802–1805 series, both of which were 1809 MK.
There are no overdates for the quarter ruble of 1808– 1810 known or even rumored to exist. If one does exist, which seems unlikely at this point in time, it will probably
be 1810/09. The total mintage for 1809 and 1810 is about 106,000 specimens but this was all for the 1808–1810 type, as coinage of this denomination ceased in late 1810 and did not resume until 1827.
Poltinas (half rubles or 50 kopecks) of 1809–1810 are perhaps the most interesting silver coins of this period. They are extremely difficult to find as type coins. The author spent over fifteen years looking for one before obtaining an 1810 in a mail bid sale conducted by a major East Coast firm. The auction lot had several poltinas of Alexander I, but they were not listed by date. A call to the firm brought the response that one of the pieces was an 1810 but not which type, as a second type was introduced in that year.
One of the major dealers in Russian coins, James Elmen of World-Wide Coins of California, told the author in the late 1980s that he had seen only one of these coins in the preceding decade. A handful have turned up since then, but still, the type is quite rare. Poltinas of 1802–1805 are much easier to find, though not in high grade.
The 1809–1810 poltina is the rarest silver type coin for the period 1796–1917 and the key to completing a nineteenth-century type set of Russian silver coinage. Those attempting to complete a type set should not pass up an opportunity for a poltina of 1809 or 1810 even if the price is a bit high. The next one may be many years down the road.
No one has yet found a definite restrike of the 1809– 1810 poltina though some have been rumored. The total mintage for this type is not known, because of the new design introduced in 1810 and included in that year’s mintage total, but a rough estimate says that less than 60,000 pieces were produced in both years, the bulk, about 50,000, coming in 1810.
Rubles of 1807–1810, unlike the lower denominations, are readily available in average circulated condition (fine or a bit better) at reasonable prices. Some of the dates are scarce, especially the 1807 FG and perhaps the 1809 FG as well. The latter piece is mentioned as the author had some
trouble finding one to complete his date and mintmaster set. The most common coin of this type appears to be the 1810 although some of the 1808s and 1809s may well run a close second.
No doubt because the 1807–1810 ruble type is relatively common, there are at present no known restrikes of this series. However, two overdates have been confirmed, 1808/7 MK and 1808/7 FG, while a third, 1810/09, is rumored to exist. The two overdates do not appear to be any rarer than the regular 1808s, perhaps indicating that a large coinage of rubles was planned for 1807 but not carried out for some reason or other. Rubles of 1807–1810 are quite scarce in high grades and prices are in line with the difficulty in finding higher grades.
Although the regular silver coinage is of strong interest to the type collector, there are two ‘pattern’ rubles that have long attracted the more wealthy collectors. So-called patterns exist of the ruble dated 1808 and 1810 although none of them was struck in the year indicated. All were made in later years, probably the 1830s. (It is believed that these dies were among those destroyed in 1840 by order of Czar Nicholas I.)
There is only one variety of the 1808 novodel ruble. A regular obverse, 1808 MK, was paired with a medal die carrying the portrait of Alexander I. Fedor Lialin executed the medal die somewhat after 1815 and some enterprising collector was able to have a small number of pieces made from the mismatched dies. Today these are extremely rare.
Two other coins are assigned the date 1810, although only one of them carries that date. Both novodel rubles have the Lialin die for an obverse but the first of them has merely a two-line inscription “1810 YEAR” and nothing else. The second pattern has a four-line inscription reading “RUSSIAN STATE COIN.”
The first reverse die of 1810, with the date only, seems to have been a concoction made up especially for some collectors, but quite a few of these were struck over the years. The extensive Goodman collection had two of them, the better one bringing a strong price. This second reverse die is an original, however, as it was used to strike pattern rubles at the fortress mint in 1806 and 1807.
Pre-1917 references generally state that the novodel rubles of 1810 are not all that rare. This seems to be borne out in practice as the author has seen several of them.
The silver coinage of 1807–1810 was struck against a backdrop of wars and treaties that did not hold. In October 1807, not long after the new St. Petersburg Mint began operating with the Boulton machinery, especially the coining presses, war broke out between Russia and the United Kingdom.
The war with England did not amount to much and was mostly confined to some sporadic naval battles in the Baltic Sea. Sweden had aligned itself with London, complicating the situation.
The dispute with Britain ended in June 1812 when Napoleon invaded Russia with a large army. London now backed the Russians as it wished the French defeated. The Russian army, with special help from Cossack detachments, did in fact destroy the French forces, leading to the eventual defeat of Napoleon in 1815.
In 1984, Money Company held the first Hong Kong auction at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile and released the first Hong Kong show panda. The first Champion sale was in 1994, and the first Hong Kong auction was in 1996 at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile.
Now, the 2024 40th Anniversary Show and Auction will be held at the legendary Holiday Inn Golden Mile where it all started on April 7. The auction will be jointly conducted by the Hong Kong International Coin Convention & Antique Watch Fair (HICC) and Champion Auction.
The auction features vintage coins from the Nelson Chang Collection, Chinese copper coin patterns from the YIF Collection, fantasy coins from the Chinese Family Collection, the BWS Collection of Chinese medals, Shanghai tokens, and Chinese charms (Part II).
Nelson Chang Collection
There are two Anhwei One Dollar Silver Coins from the Hsi/NC Collection (NGC MS66 & MS65), the finest known 1912 Sun Yat Sen 10 Cent Silver Coin (NGC MS66), the finest known Sinkiang 5 Mace Silver Coin (NGC MS66), and the Unique Kiangnan 5 Cent Uniface Brass Pattern (NGC MS63BN).
Nelson Chang began to assemble the fabulous NC Collection of vintage Chinese coins in the mid-1970s. A successful Wall Street career specializing in commodities and non-traditional assets, combined with a long and extensive family history of collecting antiquities and Chinese coins, led to a collecting passion that spanned over 30 years. His focus lay in finding the highest quality and rarest numismatic items. In 2021, the Nelson Chang Collection Auction held by Champion Auction realized over 20 million US dollars with 60 lots from the NC Collection, breaking the record of the Chinese coin auction. YIF Collection
There is a complete set of Szechuan Ferricute Brass Patterns (one of few examples graded by NGC as Specimen Strikes), finest known and extremely rare 1923 Tsao Kun Copper Dollar Coin from the 1971 Kann Collection Auction and 1991 Goodman Collection Auction (NGC MS63), a group of Sun Yat-Sen Patterns in Copper from the Shanghai Mint, and a choice 1914 Kansu Yuan ShihKai Dollar (NGC AU50).
YIF is a senior Chinese collector of Chinese copper pattern coins, horse tokens, and Japanese medals for Taiwan. He started collecting in the 1980s to around 2015. He had collected for over 35 years through auctions and dealers.
Chinese Family Collection
There are fantasy coins and U.S. GSA dollars including the rare 1879CC from the Chinese Family Collection.
The Chinese Family Collection was built by a pair of siblings who came from a scholarly family and are now moving overseas. Both of them have a deep affection for Chinese coins. They began to collect coins in the 1970s. in the 1980s, they purchased a large number of coins at the Money Company auction in Hong Kong. They are one of the largest buyers at the 1991 Goodman Collection Auction. The Chinese Family Collection is one of the most complete collections built from the 1980s to 1990s.
CIT launched a new series alongside new technology. Phobias, the title of the new series, plays on the fears of one’s subconscious.
The first coin depicts the fear of deep water. On the reverse of this 10-dollar 2 oz silver coin is a giant shark coming out of the depths of the ocean, its massive jaws opening wide. Above is a tiny human, swimming unaware of the dangers that lurk below.
CIT combined a concave coin with Smartminting Ultra High Relief to create an interesting effect on these coins. The high relief of the shark comes out of the concave surface, and then the coin is filled in with colored enamel, which brings the phobia of deep water- thalassophobiato life.
Those who suffer from thalassophobia are constantly wondering what is lurking beneath the surface of the water.
On the obverse of the coin is the coat of arms of Palau surrounded by silhouettes of heads increasing in size to create a sense of unease. Above the coat of arms is the legend that reads PHOBIAS.
Phobias are anxiety disorders that are often treated with graduated exposure therapy. This means that those affected are exposed to what they fear most in a controlled manner. Thalassophobia can therefore be a beautiful coin in a numismatic collection, characterized by a completely novel technique, but also a small talisman for all those who suffer from the fear that danger looms beneath the surface of the sea.