So, to return to the symbolic discs and coins

So, to return to the symbolic discs and coins. There was one curious episode: in 1925 Soviet Russia began to strike gold 10- and 5-rouble coins of Tsarist Russia. For a long time this information was regarded as no more than unconfirmed rumour, until some ten years ago official publications connected with the Leningrad Mint confirmed the swindle.

In its first years the Soviet state found itself in a so-called gold blockade imposed by a number of Western countries: Soviet gold coins, namely the chervontsy of the 1923 pattern, were not accepted. Meanwhile, deals had to be concluded and debts paid.

At this point Russian ingenuity switches on.

Since the ban applied only to Soviet gold, it was decided to strike the gold that was not under prohibition, that is, the Tsarist chervontsy. Fortunately, the original die tooling, and indeed the specialists of those days, had survived. In the documentation of the Leningrad Mint the new strikes were referred to as “discs of large and small denomination”.

All the newly struck chervontsy bore the old date and the original design, with slight differences that only an experienced numismatist can make out. The Leningrad Mint issued five-rouble pieces of 1897-1901 and ten-rouble pieces of 1898-1904 to the value of 25 million roubles. On the whole, everyone admits that the Soviet chervontsy are of rather high quality, and, curiously, Soviet forgeries quite often weigh more than the originals.