100 Roubles The History of Russian Currency

This piece belongs to a recurring Bank of Russia program that commissioned oversized commemorative issues throughout the 2000s, several of which were struck at the Moscow and Saint Petersburg mints in limited runs intended almost exclusively for collectors and diplomatic gifts. At over a kilogram of sterling silver and 100mm across, these were never remotely intended for circulation — the production cost per coin dwarfed face value by orders of magnitude.

The "History of Russian Currency" series drew on archival material from Goznak, the state printing and minting enterprise that traces its institutional roots to 1818.