Russia 1803-EM 1/4 kopek
This specimen was lot 42547 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Oklahoma City, OK, August 2025), where it sold for $2,160. The catalog description[1] noted, "RUSSIA. Polush[k]a, 1803-EM. Ekaterinburg Mint. Alexander I. PCGS AU-50. Variety with narrower, more pointed wings, and with right wingtip bisecting inner ring. Already a fairly SCARCE and seldom encountered type, this specimen can be considered EXTREMELY RARE when pairing its advanced, problem-free state of preservation with its obverse die variant. In particular, the wings on this example are narrower and more contained than on the more commonly-encountered die, with sharper, more pointed feathers and a wing on the right side that not only reaches the inner circle, but also bisects it. A study of other examples offered at public auction of this date and mint over the past three-plus decades reveals just one other specimen with this same obverse die---a Russian-graded [RNGA] piece designated AU-55 (though, in the opinion of this cataloger, a bit rougher in overall appearance) that realized a hammer of $8,000 in April 2019." This type was struck in small numbers at Ekaterinburg 1803, 1805, 1808 and 1810. Similar polushkas were struck at the Kolyvan mint (KM C111.2). The polushka was a quarter kopek or 1/400 of a ruble.
Recorded mintage: 12,000.
Specification: 2.56 g, copper, 17.5 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-C111.1; Bit-331 (R1); Brekke-9.
- Bitkin, Vladimir, Composite Catalogue of Russian Coins, Part II (1740-1917), Kiev: Moneta, 2003.
- Brekke, B. F., The Copper Coinage of Imperial Russia, 1700-1917, New York, Galerie des Monnaies, 1977, with 1987 supplement.
- Harris, Robert P., Guidebook of Russian Coins, 1725 to 1970, Santa Cruz, CA: Bonanza Press, 1971.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, August 2025 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, featuring The Richard August Collection and the Richard Margolis Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2025.
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