The Gold Chervonets
Europe will remember Olympics-80
And also Gagarin, Gorbachev and Peter I
Medals in the form of coins with the representation of Peter I, Katherine I and also St. Basil cathedral have appeared in the numismatic market of Europe.
All medals are minted at Saint-Petersburg Mint due to the agreement between the Association Goznak and the closed company "Meznumismatics", which represents the interests of German firm MDM. The contract, planned for 7 years, was ratified in March last year.
For 7 years 24 silver and 8 gold medals more should be made at Saint-Petersburg Mint. All these medals are included into the series " Thousandth anniversary of Russian state". Russian monarchs, great Russian writers, poets and composers and also Uriy Gagarin and the first president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev will be represented on the medals. Besides, medals with representations of famous monuments and architectural constructions of Russia, medals, devoted to Stalin grad battle, Tran Siberian railroad and Olympics-80, having been held in Moscow, are planned to mint.
In specialists" opinion, Russian memorable coins from silver and gold were very popular in the West in the first half of the 90-s. For the last decade the interest for Russian coins and medals in Europe and America is kept. The innovation is the fashion for the medals in form of coins, e.g. medals, having exterior of coins, has appeared in numismatics societies. Just these medals according to the order of MDM company are being made at Saint-Petersburg Mint.
The subjects of the medals are rather traditional and devoted to Russian history. That was one of the requirements of the customers. While discussing the design of future medals the representatives of German firm insisted on two basic moments. Firstly, the subject must be recognizable easy and associated with Russia directly. Secondly, the design of the medals must be created by the main painter of Saint-Petersburg Mint Alexander Baklanov.
Due to the words of Baklanov himself, he happened to work with these customers before, so they are easy to understand each other. Some difficulty is though all subjects must be recognizable the drafts shouldn"t repeat existing ones. It means Peter I on the medal should look like the tsar Peter I, of course, but shouldn"t copy his representation on other medals and coins. However, for specialists of Mint this requirement is not a news. No one original make, produced here, doesn"t repeat another one. Drafts for different makes for the same subject always differ from each other.
All medals are minted of 500 copies printing. In the case of necessity additional printing will be ordered. The medals are not in free sale, but spread under subscription among numismatists. This Russian-German project was supported by the government of Russia as well.
Tatyana Balueva
