The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 17, April 23, 2006, Article 27

ON PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM COINS

Regarding our earlier discussion of palladium coins, Steve
Dippolito writes: "Russia did indeed experiment with a new
coinage metal in 1828-1845, but it wasn't palladium, it was
platinum.  To my knowledge it is the only case of a country
issuing platinum coinage for circulation.  It came in three
denominations:  3 rubles (same size and almost twice the
weight of the 25 kopek piece), 6 rubles (same size and twice
the weight of the half ruble) and 12 rubles (same size and
twice the weight of the ruble).

The coins were made of sponge platinum since the technology
to melt large quantities of platinum did not exist yet.  Some
effort was made to purify the metal in the coins, which
originally was in nuggets and dust, but there is something
like 1-5% iridium and iron in the coins.  The weights are
close to 1/3, 2/3 and 1 1/3 of a troy ounce, respectively.

My understanding is that these coins' values were explicitly
tied to silver during a currency reform in Russia, where the
paper money was being brought back in line with silver, and
the denominations are given as "3 [or 6 or 12] RUBLES IN SILVER".
Only the 3 ruble piece actually did circulate to any extent,
and one of my two examples is most assuredly proof that the
coins saw use, as it has been worn, knifed (probably to do the
"acid test") and bent.

To my knowledge no one has ever issued palladium for circulation,
though of course there are NCLT issues out there."

Ralf Böpple adds: "Just for the record: the palladium coins
from Sierra Leone are the denominations 1/4 golde (KM 22b), 1/2
golde (KM 23b), and one golde (KM 24b). Mintage is given as 100
pieces each (they were also minted in gold in larger quantities).
The year of production is 1966, which would make them indeed the
first palladium issues of the modern, i.e., post-WWII, era of
pseudo-coins. I even found a picture of them on the Internet:
pictures "

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum