Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1606. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

RUSSIA, Tsars of Russia. Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich. 1881-1894. AR Rouble (20.77 g, 12h). Coronation issue. Sankt-Peterburg (St. Petersburg) mint. Dated 1883. Б. M. AЛEKCAHДPЪ III ИMПEPATOPЪ И CAMOДEPЖ. BCEPOCC., head right; Л.III.at truncation of head; KOPOHOBAHЪ BЪ MOCKBҌ/1883 in two lines below head / imperial crown, orb, and scepter set on cushion; PУБЛЬ above; all within laurel and oak wreath. Plain edge. Bitkin 217; Severin 3939; Uzdenikov 4195. NGC photo graded MS 65, lovely toned proof or proof-like commemorative with an outstanding field and wonderful patina in various hues of color.

Purchased from World Wide Coins of California (J. Elmen), October 1980.

Aleksandr III was the son of Aleksandr II and grandson of Nikolai I. His personality was more like his grandfather’s, and he reversed many of his father’s liberal reforms. Under his rule, pogroms against the Jews and other minorities were rampant. He was to meet the fate of his father, dying from complications suffered from a previous assassination attempt.