January 31, 2004
Brother, can you spare a (Constantine I) ruble?
A new record for a European coin was set in New York on January 15. . .From the Antiques Trade Gazette. More on the Constantine I ruble here.The subject of this excitement was a Russian silver rouble. Boldly estimated at $500,000, after spirited bidding it reached $525,000 (£308,823), selling to a Japanese dealer on behalf of a client.
The coin in question is an 1825 pattern struck in anticipation of the succession of Constantine I as Tsar. . .Five examples are known with a lettered edge and two with a plain edge. Two are in the Hermitage (a plain-edged example surfaced here in 1962), one in the Smithsonian, another in a private collection and one is still unaccounted for.
Posted by David on January 31, 2004 8:57 PM
I have a Constantine I (the real one) Roman bronze from around the 300. One of my faves.
Posted by: Michael Hiteshew on February 1, 2004 10:28 PM
I vaguely recall learning, in a Russian history class somewhere, that a group of peasants were led by some intellectuals to strike up a protest chant when Nicholas was announced as the Czar -- "Constantine and Constitution!" the chant supposedly went. And allegedly, the chanters believed that Constitution was the name of Constantine's wife.
Most likely apocryphal, but a nice little story nonetheless...
Posted by: Bill on February 1, 2004 11:01 PM
gmail.com