Collecting for Beginners: USSR Coins (Part 1)

The Coin Collecting Starter Series continues. Today we will talk about the banknotes of the USSR.

The formation of the new Soviet state was reflected in the design of coins. It was changed while maintaining the purity and weight of the coins, which were made from silver and billon. They were decorated with the coat of arms of the USSR.
1 ruble was issued with the date of 1924.




The fifty-kopeck piece was produced in the period from 1924 to 1927, part of the fifty-kopeck piece of 1924 was minted in England, their distinctive sign is the name of the mintzmeister "T.R." on the edge.




Billon coins were minted from 1924 to 1931. Those that were minted in 1931 are considered rare and are in high demand among collectors.













In imitation of the coins of the tsarist minting, the first coins of the USSR were issued from copper in the same weight and denomination as in the period of Nicholas II. The exception was ¼ kopecks. These are coins in 5, 3, 2, 1 and half kopecks. In 1924 the whole series was minted with the exception of half a penny, in 1925 2, 1 and half a penny, in 1927 and 1928 - half a penny.
















Since 1931, due to the high cost of silver, the minting of coins with its content was stopped forever. The billon coins were replaced by coins of a new design, which used a copper-nickel alloy with denominations of 10, 15, 20 kopecks. 50 kopecks and 1 ruble were not minted. The reverse of the coin was decorated with the coat of arms of the USSR, the obverse - the image of a worker with a shield on which the denomination is indicated.










In 1935, the design was greatly simplified and coins continued to be minted from a copper-nickel alloy. In 1937, 1947 and 1957 the number of ribbons on the coat of arms changed (11, 16 and 15, respectively). Coins of this design were in circulation until 1961.













Due to the high cost of copper and its demand in industry, the minting of bargaining coins from copper was not carried out after 1928. They were made of aluminum bronze.



















In the period from 1926 to 1957, coins from 1 to 5 kopecks were minted from bronze. In 1935 the inscription disappeared: "PROLETARIANS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!" Later, the obverse was changed more than once. This was due to the acceptance of the new republics into the USSR, their transformation from autonomous to union and vice versa.