10 Roubles The Kirov Region

Part of the long-running Russian Federation bimetallic regional series, this piece was issued as one of dozens commemorating the constituent subjects of the Russian Federation. The Kirov Oblast takes its name not from any geographical feature but from Sergei Kirov, the Leningrad party chief whose assassination in 1934 — almost certainly orchestrated by Stalin — triggered the Great Purge. The region had previously been called Vyatka for centuries.

Low secondary-market premiums are typical across this series; mintages ran into the millions for most issues.