Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1585. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $24000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

RUSSIA, Tsars of Russia. Pavl I Petrovich. 1796-1801. AR Rouble (20.71 g, 12h). Sankt-Peterburg (St. Petersburg) mint; Mikhail Bobrovshchikov, mintmaster. Dated 1799. MOHETA ЦEHA POБЛЬ 1799., crowned cruciform П monogram; I in center / HE HAMБ,/HE HAMБ,/A ИMЯHИ/TBOEMУ. in four lines across field; all within ornate square frame; с.м. and м.Б in lower corners. On edge: (flower) BOCEMДECЯTЬ TPETEИ CЬ OДHOЮ TPETЬЮ ПPOБЫ. Bitkin 35; Severin 2452 var. (мБ); Uzdenikov 1293. MS 62, toned, shift strike on obverse and reverse. Struck on a broad planchet, much larger than the roubles of this type, and struck from proof dies. There are no novodels of this date published, and it was possibly struck as a pattern or proof. One of the great rarities in a collection of rarities. A numismatic enigma.

Purchased from M. L. Teller, February 1984. Ex Baldwin’s.