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100 Roubles State Seal of Ivan III
| Issuer | State Bank of the USSR |
|---|---|
| Year | 1989 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | 1991 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Cyrillic |
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| Reverse description | The reverse depicts a large, detailed representation of the State Seal of Ivan III, dated 1497, occupying the central field as a raised medallion with a beaded border. Within the seal, an equestrian figure — a mounted warrior, consistent with the image of Saint George — is shown slaying a serpent beneath the horse's hooves, rendered in fine relief with considerable sculptural detail. An Old Church Slavonic or early Cyrillic legend encircles the inner edge of the seal. Around the periphery of the coin, the curved legend '500·ЛЕТИЕ ЕДИНОГО РУССКОГО ГОСУДАРСТВА' (500th Anniversary of the United Russian State) arcs across the upper field, while '· ГОСУДАРСТВЕННАЯ ПЕЧАТЬ ИВАНА III ·' (State Seal of Ivan III) runs along the lower arc. The date '1497 г.' appears in the lower central field between the two legends. |
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| Additional information |
This piece belongs to a suite of gold issues released by the Soviet State Bank in the late 1980s under Gorbachev, when hard currency generation had become a quiet institutional priority. The USSR was selling gold coins to Western collectors and dealers while the domestic economy was deteriorating — an arrangement the state never publicized domestically.
The Great Seal depicted dates to 1497, when Ivan III formalized the double-headed eagle after his marriage to Sophia Palaeologa, niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Soviet numismatic planners choosing a Tsarist-era dynastic symbol for a state coin issue in 1989 was, to put it plainly, an odd choice for a Marxist-Leninist government in its final years.