A rare Russian Gold Ingot bearing Imperial hallmarks and dated 1919 is being auctioned by GreatCollections on Sunday, August 18th. 58 bids have already been received.
The 44 oz. ingot hails from a direct descendant of Mikhail Pleshkov Jr., a prominent Russian colonel and aide-de-camp to Tsar Nicholas. Pleshkov Jr. was one of the leaders of the White movement in the Far East, and after its fall, emigrated to the United States where he died in 1956.
Aside from the serial number, weight and the date of 1919, two more detailed markings can be seen – a pair of crowned double-headed Imperial eagles, which are repeated on three sides.
"This is an important piece of history – and if only it could speak to tell us the whole story. Aside from the raw, aged gold, we instantly think of the capture of the Imperial Russian gold reserve at Kazan by the White Army in 1918 and its unclear fate 100 years later" said Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections.
In August of 1918, the White Army seized control of the massive gold reserves held at Kazan and it was never seen again. The New York Times and BBC both published articles on the lost Russian gold hoard.
This bar was discovered and pedigreed by Atlanta coin dealer Rob Oberth of Gold & Coin Exchange. Oberth purchased the ingot from a Pleshkov Jr. family member’s estate earlier this year.
"When my client initially revealed the bar, I was astounded by its size and originality. And when I asked about their family history, it ties it directly to pre-revolutionary Russian royalty," said Oberth.
The Russian Gold Ingot is being sold unreserved on Sunday, August 18th. To find out more, visit www.greatcollections.com or telephone 1-800-442-6467. It will also be on display at table 201, ANA World’s Fair of Money, Rosemont, Illinois from August 6th to 10th.
About GreatCollections
GreatCollections, the official auction house of the American Numismatic Association, specializes in auctioning certified coins and banknotes, handling transactions from start to finish. Since its founding in 2010, GreatCollections has successfully auctioned over 1.5 million certified coins, making it one of the leading certified coin companies in the United States with annual sales in 2023 exceeding $210 million. Ian Russell, owner/president of GreatCollections, is a member of the prestigious Professional Numismatists Guild, member of the Roundtable Trading Network and was named the ANA Harry J. Forman Dealer of the Year. For more information about GreatCollections, visit www.greatcollections.com or call 800-442-6467.
I’m in on the bidding.
Let me guess; you’re a distant relative and one of the heirs to the Tsar’s fortune. Congrats!
You can never have enough door stops and paper weights
and book ends….
Ah, but then you’d need two of these.
I believe the description of the images of the Russian Double Eagles on this gold ingot as being “pairs” of Russian Double Eagles is incorrect since the Russian Imperial symbol was in fact a single Double Eagle with two heads.
A FYI, for any looking to diversify their collection? The Royal Canadian Mint, typically releases their newest coins on the “first Tuesday”(tonight) of the month. Insider tip: usually at Midnight those coins go live at GateWest coin. If a coin or product ends up being in high demand, once seen, they can sell out before morning/sunrise. So for best chance you need to check both the RCM site, as well as GateWest beginning slightly before, at or just after midnight or there’s a good chance, inventory will not be available @ sunrise. Every now and again they do release some… Read more »
CaliSkier,
Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t asking $274 for $80 worth of silver a bit much no matter what sort of fancy designing, sculpting and minting went into that coin? Just sayin’.
I like what they did with the required monarch portrait by shrinking the image down. Nice. Looks like Queen Liz though.
East Coast Guru,
You weren’t kidding when you said they shrank down the Monarch’s image on the Obverse; in fact, I would refer to that as a minimalization!
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RCM has a Masters Club Loyalty program divided into 7 tiers which allow early access to purchase new products. The topmost tier, Diamond Elite gets 7 days early access. So, for most of the highly sought after products with low mintages they’re gone before even released to the public on the Mint website. Otherwise, for the products that stick around for a while, you can often buy for less through US dealers like APMEX than you can buying direct from RCM, even after factoring in currency exchange. You have to shop around.
Yes, but does that Diamond Elite tier get you access to First Class Airport Lounges?
Sir Kaiser, with all do respect, the melt value on the Dragon coin is a tiny bit more. at $87.77 with spot approx, $27.30/oz. Price wise, after all, 3 USM Proof American Silver Eagles would only be 3oz’s($81.90 spot melt) and cost $285, for the same ole’ yearly repetitive design, produced in the hundreds of thousands. Vs $274 and almost a bonus 1/4oz of 4 nines(.9999) fine, pure silver, however no “Red Oak Box” y’all are so fond of, I know? LOL Does come with little bit better packaging than ASE’s and a decent clamshell for those, that It matters… Read more »
BTW, or one could purchase 3, 2024 Liberty and Britannia 1oz silver medals for $312? That $274 is looking better and better, don’t cha’ think? LOL!
CaliSkier, I’m going to go 50/50 with you on this one. You’re right about the price being within the now prevailing premium over spot range for silver products from the US Mint, so I’ll definitely grant you that. Appearance wise, however, this RCM coin doesn’t jell with my idea of what a desirable coin would look like, so I’ll just tuck that part into the “Each to his own” category. I tend to believe that if we all liked the same coins our collections would be boringly identical. I think it makes the hobby much more interesting to have such… Read more »
I have two quarters with a W mint mark. That wouldn’t be Winnipeg either, eh.
Antonio,
Depends. Are they by any chance super-humongous double high relief?
Or not purchase either, which is looking pretty good for me. IMO the 3D stuff (and/or the bejeweled stuff and/or the colorized stuff in other pieces) makes these more like brooches minus the pins, vs a coin. I’d say it’s RCM jumping the shark, but RCM has left that shark far, far behind at this point. Why on earth the US Mint would want to emulate RCM is beyond me. Regardless, both (and all the other world mints for that matter) are heading for a steep decline in the coming years.
Major D,
The RCM has long now been in the very forefront of turning their coins into bases or platforms if you will of all the ever more extravagant “outgrowths” that are appearing on their exceedingly garish “coins”, whether those “extensions” consist of little bulges or in fact statuettes.
CaliSkier,
I always got such a big laugh out of the silly reality that these “housewife game shows” were nothing more than one long commercial broken up by other ads.
At $288.88 + $5 postage = $293.88 from Gatewest for 3.215 troy oz = $91.41 per troy oz of silver. Versus an ASE W-Uncirculated for $91 per troy oz or an ASE S-Proof for $95 per troy oz. I’d say not much difference. At least with the US Mint ASEs, there is a larger demand, so you can resell fairly easily. It’s not so great with RCM products as there is a much, much lower demand for them. Spot price still falling, it’s at $26.74 right now.
Major D,
With so much to purchase from established mints elsewhere that someone might actually want to buy from you if you decide to sell, picking up one of those Canadian or “Pacific Island Mint” novelty coins likely isn’t the best way to go.
Kaiser, as you’ve said before, to each their own. And if you like it, then nothing wrong with that. Here’s one of my Marshall Islands novelty coins. Actually, this one is a stock photo. Mine’s sealed in cello w OGP. Price was $5.95 free delivery. I’m a sucker for anything space shuttle.
Major D,
As has occurred here more times than I care to remember, hoisted on my own petard once again. Admittedly I require a reminder in that regard on occasion. By the way, any space flight coin has my attention.
I bought the 1991 USSR Gagarin coin and medal set back the year after it was available. It’s pretty cool, but hasn’t screamed up in value much. The medal is very light, supposedly made from a Russian space vehicle.
VA Bob,
I don’t care what they’re made of, those are some really fine looking coins. Don’t bother to worry yourself about the value; those are historical and artistic keepers in any case!
Or for those with very strong, large and deep pockets, at just $69.62/oz with a price of $2,251.45USD(GW VIP), you could choose “what’s in the box” and p/u a: “2024 Kilo ‘Super Incuse Maple Leaf’ Gold-Plated Reverse-Proof $250 Silver Coin .9999 Fine” PS Go to RCM(Mint CA) New Releases for all the spec’s not currently showing(yet) on GateWest’s site. $2,381.24 direct from RCM.
Major D, there are no US dealers, that I’m aware of that can beat the prices at GateWest? Including Apmex…even on products that as you say, “products that stick around for a while” Almost, “always” GW, will trump any other dealers
prices.
CaliSkier,
When you say that no US dealers can beat GateWest for prices, does this refer to Canadian coins only or do you mean across the board?
Major D said: “At $288.88 + $5 postage = $293.88 from Gatewest for 3.215 troy oz = $91.41 per troy oz of silver.” Unfortunately this is incorrect, as you forgot to account for or deduct the $14.44 V.I.P. discount taken at checkout. Gotta love that “Red Herring” you throw in to try and confuse the situation? Proof coins w/out shipping is what I’d compared. As you noticed(?), I did not include the shipping charges in my computations, nor did I compare the less expensive uncirculated coins.. I do “not” believe that many or most(?) purchasers of US Mint ASE’s are… Read more »
You once said to beware of anyone vehemently pitching certain coins and sellers. H’mmm…. You don’t have to be a subscriber to get free US Mint shipping. It’s anything after the third order. I have ordered from Gatewest and I never received any VIP discount. And Gatewest always charges shipping. So, I’d say that’s a red herring. For me, I do have free shipping from the Mint, but not for Gatewest. I look at the full-on delivered price (including postage, taxes, credit card charges, whatever gets charged to acquire the coin), that’s an apples-to-apples. As for posts, I’ll comment where… Read more »
V.I.P. discount is not offered on every single GW offering, however literally almost(95% or more) every single coin offered up at GateWest, has an associated and attached VIP point total. I haven’t seen ALL your purchases from GW, however I would say with 99.99% certainty, “YOU” have indeed received VIP discounts from GW! That is unless all of your purchase were ordered via phone(vs online), bullion or “on sale”, similar to that smoking deal on the 2 sets we both ordered: “Combo 2017 and 2018 ‘Coin Lore’ 3-Coin Sets .9999 Fine Silver”. Zero “Red Hereings”, here as I specialize in… Read more »
Kaiser said: “CaliSkier When you say that no US dealers can beat GateWest for prices, does this refer to Canadian coins only or do you mean across the board?“ The Red Herring worked I guess. The original dialogue began with and was comparing Royal Canadian Mint coins and US Mint coins. GateWest is a Canadian Mint coin dealer, so I’m talking about Royal Canadian Mint coins only vs across the board.
CaliSkier,
Thanks for the clarification. As for The Red Herring, any relation to The Black Adder?
.
CaliSkier,
I’m with you on what is appealing in “fancy” coins. The first one above is a 100 Euro Gold, #1 of the Austrian Native Animal Series. The “transparent lion” silver coin depicted second, while imaginative in its own way, doesn’t ring anywhere near the kind of bell with me as does that Austrian beauty.
AND, Those 3 Unc ASE’s youMajor D) threw into the proof coin pool, for comparison would end up being $92.98/oz w/shipping and a difference of 7.76% more than the proof “Dragon”. Point being, most RCM silver offerings are now out priced by our own USM. PS I also do not favor the painted coins, Swarovski Crystal coins or Diamond encrusted bejeweled coins from the RCM. However I’ll say, I wouldn’t mind having anyone of the Royal Canadian Mint coins that made up the “Opulence” Collection! Especially the “Ultimate”, which sold for $1.2 million.($1,003,112 USD at the time 2022) Link below… Read more »
Remind me not to get in between you guys if you ever have a real pissing match! 🙂
DaveSWFL,
Always wear the Kaiser Klean Koin Koat, total protection whatever the action!
Nope, I don’t pay US Mint shipping (or RCM shipping or APMEX shipping for that matter). But getting back to your VIP bonus points argument: Buying one 100g Dragon gets you 1,444 discount points = $14.44 off your next purchase, not the Dragon purchase so it’s misleading knocking that amount off of the Dragon coin then making per oz comparisons. And as far as those points go, I have none as the only purchase I’ve made from Gatewest is the 2017 + 2018 Coin Lore sets- which even with no points was a good deal paying spot for them. Spot… Read more »
Major D said:”Buying one 100g Dragon gets you 1,444 discount points = $14.44 off your next purchase, not the Dragon purchase so it’s misleading knocking that amount off of the Dragon coin then making per oz comparisons.” Not true, I am not, nor will I ever mislead or tell 1/2 the story to prove a point, it’s just not in my nature: Ok, let me start over, by saying that the overall clarity of the explanation on the GW site, isn’t “crystal clear” and does leave some room for interpretation. Having literally purchased thousands of dollars in RCM product from… Read more »
CaliSkier and Major D,
After extensive deliberation we have officially decided to award two Gold Medals in this particular Olympics Week Event to champion equanimity.
Note: Please do not bite your Medals podium-style as the inside is French dark chocolate and might come off as being more than a tad bitter.
I was wondering were I left that. Please return it.