1765 RUSSIAN COIN FOUND ON NOVA SCOTIA BEACH

Kieran Bent was looking for sea glass at the beach near his grandparents’ home in Abercrombie on Saturday when he saw a greenish object that caught his eye. “When I picked it up, it didn’t feel right based on its thickness,” Bent said.

He gave it a flick and the sound was more like metal.

“Then I remembered that copper corrodes green,” the 15-year-old said.

Bent, who lives in Trenton, realized his find might be a coin, but he wasn’t sure.

After about four hours of cleaning it, he was able to see letters and the date 1765 clearly visible on one side, allowing him to try to identify it online.

He learned that it’s a five kopek coin from the old Russian Empire. Worn ones sell for around $25, Bent said. He said the one he found probably would have been worth more if he hadn’t cleaned it, because collectors advise against that.

Local coin collector and expert Steve Brennan said a Russian coin certainly wouldn’t be common in this area.

“I don’t know how it would have landed on a beach,” he said.

Coins most often end up on a beach when people are carrying them in their pocket and changing to swim, he said. It’s possible someone was visiting from Russia or had visited and gave the coin to someone in Pictou County. Given the age of the coin, it’s also possible it came from a ship that sank in the area or was passing through the area and someone dropped it. There’s a place near the Abercrombie beach on the East River, which is a tidal river, where coal ships were loaded many years ago.

To read the complete article, see:
Teen discovers 18th century Russian coin on Pictou County beach (http://www.ngnews.ca/news/local/2017/5/25/teen-discovers-18th-century-russian-coin-on-pictou-county-beach.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE 1797 RECOINING PROGRAM OF CZAR PAUL I OF RUSSIA (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n08a30.html)

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