Russian Gold Coins

Russian Gold Coins have a long and rich history, which started around the 10th century. As Russia didn't have any local gold deposits discovered at the time, all gold coins were minted from the gold exported mainly from Europe and issued gold coins more as medals and gifts, rather than for circulation. The first Russian gold coin was "Zlatnik" or "Zlato", literally meaning "Golden" or "A Piece of Gold" and it was issued for Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir.

With the lack of gold, not much Russian gold coins were minted until the middle of the 13th century. Coins of that time were minted mainly as a trade coinage and had standards similar to Dutch and Austrian Ducats. Starting from the 18th century, Russia started to mint gold coins for circulation as well.

Russian gold coins can be combined into three main categories: gold coins of the Russian Empire, gold coins of the USSR, and gold coins of the Russian Federation.

Gold Coins of the Russian Empire

First gold coins of Russian Empire minted for circulation were issued under Peter the Great; the first denomination was Chervonets. In 1745, first gold deposits in Russia were discovered in Ural Mountains and mass production of Russian gold coins for circulation had started. The Chervonets was later replaced by Gold Roubles and for the following 150 years a great number of Russian gold coins were minted, including the following denominations: 1 rouble, 3 rouble, 5 rouble, 7.5 rouble, 10 rouble, 15 rouble, 25 rouble, and 37.5 rouble gold coins. Another popular type of Russian gold coins was The Imperial, which was first equal to 10 gold roubles but later was changed to 15 gold roubles and was issued with breaks from 18th century until the Russian Revolution.

Gold Coins of the USSR

The Soviet Union did not mint a great number of gold coins, specially at the early ages of the Soviet Russia – the only gold coin minted before 1977 was the Gold Chervonets minted in 1923, 1925, and from 1975 to 1982. The next issue of Russian gold coins were only for Moscow Olympics of 1980, but only six gold coins were minted at that time. Starting from the end of 1980s, the Soviets increased production of gold coins, but didn't have time to produce a whole lot of them as the Soviet Union collapsed and young Russian Federation took over. One of the popular Russian gold coins of this time which worth mentioning is the Russian Ballet series gold coins, which started in 1991 and is still minted.

Gold Coins of the Russian Federation

With the change of government, intentions of Russia to mint gold coins had not changed a bit and there is a great number of Russian gold coins minted since 1992. The Russian Ballet series was continued both in Gold and Platinum strikes. More series were added to modern Russian gold coins, including such themes as the Russian Culture, Endangered Animals, Anniversaries of Russian Fleet and of Victory in the World War Two, the Zodiac Signs, and many more others. With the current tendency, no doubt will see much more beautiful new Russian gold coins in the near future.

Russian gold coins are currently a very hot market item – the prices on them skyrocketed and much higher than in standard coin catalogues. Yet, it's still possible to spot a good deal and get a nice Russian gold coin for a good price.

You can see current listings for Russian Gold Coins here: