100 Roubles Saint George the Victorious

Introduced in 2006 as a bullion investment coin, the Saint George series was Russia's deliberate answer to the Krugerrand and Maple Leaf — a domestically produced gold vehicle intended to channel private savings into state-controlled precious metals markets. The 100-rouble denomination carries no realistic purchasing power at face value; it exists purely as legal tender fiction.

Production continued through Western sanctions regimes that, from 2022 onward, broadly restricted Russian gold from entering major international markets. Coins struck in 2022 and 2023 were effectively excluded from LBMA-recognized trading channels following the invasion of Ukraine.