Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 2106. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

RUSSIA. Nicholas I. 1825-1855. Platinum 3 Rubles. St. Petersburg mint. Dated 1828. Mintage: 20,023. Crowned double-headed imperial eagle, holding sceptre and orb, state coat-of-arms on breast with six provincial coats-of-arms on wings; crown above / Legend and date. Bitkin 73; Uzdenikov 362; Severin 594; KM 177; Friedberg 160. In PCGS slab, graded MS65. ($2000)

The platinum coinage of Russia is unique in numismatic history as an attempt to put coinage in that metal into regular circulation. Platinum began to flow from mines in the Urals in the 1820's, and the Demidov family, which owned the mines, campaigned for use of the metal in circulating currency. At the time there was little demand for the metal. The peculiar denominations of 12, 6 and 3 rubles were employed supposedly because blanks could be produced using the current silver ruble, half ruble and quarter ruble punches. This cost-saving measure may have doomed the effort to introduce a platinum coinage, with people confusing the more valuable silvery metal with regular silver coins, and subsequently rejecting the platinum pieces. Although some years saw a substantial issue of 3 ruble pieces, after 1832 mintage of most denominations was only nominal, mostly being struck for collectors, until the last issue of 1845. The situation with platinum coinage in Russia was somewhat analogous to that of the US in the 1860's and 1970's, when western mine owners pressed for greater use of precious metals in coinage, and curious and unpopular denominations such as the silver 3 cent, 20 cent and trade dollar, and gold 3 dollar pieces saw brief circulation.