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Part I: Russian Coins & Medals Catherine II, 1762-1796 Excessively Rare and the Best-Known 1766 Pattern Rouble PATTERN Rouble 1766 CПБ-ЯI. 23.79 gm. Bit 974 (R4), Diakov 135 (R5), Ilyin (RRR, 300 Rubl.), GM 91 (pl. V, 14; RRR), Sev 1973 (RRRR), Uzd 0983 (!!). Crowned, veiled, stately bust of Catherine II r., large head, Imperial eagle on her shoulder / Crowned Imperial eagle. Excessively rare; of the three known specimens of this remarkable Pattern, this example is the best. Small test cut on edge. Soft lavender-gray over trivial laminations Extremely fine This enigmatic Pattern Rouble stands out as one of the greatest rarities of Russian numismatics. The portrait is unsigned. Who was the engraver? We as yet do not know. One of the finest Russian collections, that of Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich lacked an example, and the Grand Duke himself knew of only two specimens. One in the Hermitage, the other in a private collection. In the Renaissance Sale of August 2000, an example was publically auctioned. The specimen offered here, a better example than the other two, brings the count up to three extant pieces. It is, though, unsure as to whether the piece offered in the Renaissance Sale or the piece offered here is the ‘private collection specimen’ referred to by Grand Duke Mikhailovich. A grand and perceptive patron of the arts and of sciences with a refined sense of style and taste, Catherine II made the Russian court equal to any in Europe. This atmosphere spilled over into the medallic arts, which saw a flurry of activity and creativity. Master German engravers came to work side by side with Timofey Ivanov and his contemporary Samoil Yudin at the St. Petersburg mint. Ivanov would produce four successive and distinct portraits of Catherine on the Ruble, the bread and butter production of the St. Petersburg mint. Among these four busts types – 1762, 1766, 1777 and 1783, one can see a number of subtle refinements and adjustments. Improvements and changes were ongoing to satisfy mint specifications, political needs and, of course, the favor, vanity and approval of the Empress. In 1766, it was decided that a new medallic portrait of Catherine was required. One can speculate on what fueled this need. The first bust type, 1762-1765, shows a youthful Catherine, her eyes bright, a smile forming on her lips, who seems to be leaning forward a bit, her shoulders somewhat bunched, like an eager young debutante, if you will, at her cotillion ball. Not unflattering, but perhaps not mature or serious enough for the Empress and Autocrat of all Russia. A new Rouble depiction was wanted which spurred the creation of the pattern offered here. Clearly officially commissioned -- as indicated by the Pattern’s mintmark and the master’s initials, the unknown engraver would have been given one or more official portraits of Catherine to use as a model. The bust most resembles the 1763 painting of Catherine by Fyodor Rokotov and it may well be that this work served as the engraver’s principal basis. The painting shows Catherine facing left, thus could be directly copied to produce a right-facing coin bust without the use of a mirror as the engraved die is the reverse of the struck image. Overall, the bust produced for the Pattern seems more realistic than the Ivanov bust for 1766 which would be the approved type. The nose and the chin, though, appear to be a, perhaps, deliberate departure from the portraiture of the period. On official paintings of the time, Catherine is shown with a slightly fleshy nose, while here the engraver has rendered it rather pert and linear, Catherine’s chin, meanwhile, does not curve on the pattern bust, but rather slopes straight down. Catherine may have viewed the effect as a little severe and dismissed the design, or the pattern may have been immediately rejected at the mint. For whatever reason, the design was not approved and today we are left with but three of these thought-provoking pattern pieces.
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2025-05-27
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2025-05-28
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40 coin descriptions were improved from 2025-05-21 to 2025-05-28
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5 Yuan República Popular China Plata
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