25 Roubles The Sleeping Beauty

Part of Russia's four-coin palladium series depicting scenes from classic Russian fairy tales, this 1995 issue completed a run that began in 1993. The series was among the first in the world to use palladium as a primary bullion and collector medium, a deliberate move by the Bank of Russia during a period when domestic palladium production from the Norilsk mines was among the highest on earth and the metal needed new commercial channels.

Mintages across the fairy tale palladium series were extremely low — typically under 2,000 pieces — making survivorship in pristine condition the norm rather than the exception, since most went directly into collections.