The most rare and expensive coins of the USSR

In this article we will consider the reasons for the emergence of expensive coins of the USSR. Surprisingly, the list of the most expensive Soviet rubles and kopecks includes not only gold and silver bank notes. In some cases, the cost of copper money is much higher than copies of precious metals.
Let’s find out why some coins are much more expensive than others, and which ones are the most valuable?
List of the most expensive coins of the USSR
1 Chervonets, 1923 – 170,000 rubles.
The list of the most expensive Soviet money begins with a gold coin. During 1923, over 2.5 million Chervonets were made at the mint in Petrograd with the image of a sower on the reverse. They were intended for trade on the world market, but such Soviet banknotes were not in demand, so almost the entire circulation was sent to the smelter.
It is not known exactly how many of these valuable gold coins survived to our days, the average selling price of which is 170 thousand rubles.
2 kopecks in 1925 – 50,000 rubles.
In 1924, a huge number of change coins were produced. Therefore, the following year, the Leningrad Mint minted coins of not all denominations. For example, money with par values ​​of 3 and 5 kopecks was excluded from production. For a long time, it was believed that 2 kopecks were among the coins that were not minted in 1925, until the first such money was found in circulation. The number of money found is not high, which makes it possible to attribute 2 kopecks of 1925 to rare instances, the sale price of which is rarely lower than 50,000 rubles.
2 kopecks in 1927 – 120,000 rubles.
About 2 hundred such coins were found, which is clearly not enough to provide all collectors collecting Soviet money. Therefore, this two-kopeck copy of 1927 has such a high collectible value.
Silver 10, 15 and 20 kopecks in 1931 – from 150,000 rubles.
In 1931 for the production of banknotes in denominations of 10, 15 and 20 kopecks nickel silver was used instead of silver. But the release of several coins made of silver blanks, this year still took place. Nobody knows the exact amount of silver money produced, but the price, starting from 150,000 rubles, speaks for sure of their uniqueness.
20 kopecks in 1934 – more than 100,000 rubles.
The only original coin is a copy kept in the Hermitage. The history of this banknote is as follows. The design of 20 kopecks contained many small details, which caused an increase in the number of defective copies. Therefore, it was decided to discontinue the release of 20-kopek money of this design, and to eliminate the minted circulation of 1934.
At numismatic auctions you can see sales of 20 kopecks in 1934. Most likely these are new models, which were produced in mini-edition in the middle of the last century. It is possible that the remakes were minted for private collections of influential people of the USSR or as a gift to foreign politicians. Their cost starts from 100,000 rubles.
Metal money of these years is shared by common fate. All manufactured coins of 1947 and 1958 were sent for remelting. From the 1947 edition, only a few copies were preserved, intended for museums. There is an opinion that there was no mass minting in 1947, and only specimens appeared at auctions. One way or another, but today it is one of the most expensive coins of the USSR!
Coins of 1958 were more fortunate, their part still got into circulation.
How much are coins of the USSR, the second half of the last century? You will not find especially valuable copies among the money of regular coinage. The most expensive are:
Year List Cost, in rubles
1970 15 cop 18,000
1990 5 cop with the letter M 18 000
1990 10 kopecks with the letter M 18 000
1991 20 kopecks without letters 25 000
The coins of regular coinage in 1991 were distinguished by the letters “M” and “L”, which designated the mint, where metal money was produced. If the Leningrad factory put its sign “L” strictly on banknotes with the date “1991”, then there was confusion on the Moscow one, which led to the appearance of two expensive options. These are rare 5 and 10 kopecks with the date “1990”, on which the letter “M” is already present.