The 1924 silver fifty kopeck coin was one of the most common coins of that time. Probably, in every family somewhere in the piggy bank there is at least one of its copies, not to mention the albums of numismatists.
Like any coin, the fifty kopeck piece has a number of its own features and variations, which is of constant interest among collectors. More than 20 of its varieties are known, some of which are so rare and valuable that any self-respecting numismatist dreams of having them in his album.
Specifications
Fifty kopecks of 1924 were minted at the Petrograd Mint under the direction of minzmeister Pyotr Latyshev in the amount of 26,559,000 pieces, the remaining 40 million were minted in England, in Birmingham by Thomas Ross. There was simply not enough production capacity in the young country of the Soviets, and they had to resort to the help of foreign colleagues.
The 1924 fifty-kopeck piece weighs 10 grams, 9 of which are 900 pure silver. Coin diameter – 26, 67mm.
Description of the coin
One fifty dollars of 1924 on the reverse has an image of a blacksmith with a hammer raised above his head. In front of him is an anvil with a workpiece and sparks flying from it, behind you can see the attributes of peasant labor - a plow, a sickle, wheels under your feet. The bottom part indicates when the fifty kopeck piece was made - 1924
On the reverse side (obverse), above the center, the coat of arms of the Soviet Union is depicted, on the sides - the letters SS and SR, respectively. Under the state emblem there is an inscription "One fifty dollars", in a circle - "Proletarians of all countries, unite!". The design of the obverse has many similarities with the one ruble coin of the same year of issue.
The edge contains information about the amount of silver (9 grams) and the initials of the head of the Mint:
- TR (Thomas Ross) - for coins produced in England;
- PL (Peter Latyshev) - if fifty dollars are minted in Petrograd (Leningrad).
The image of a blacksmith on the reverse of a fifty-kopeck piece
The image of the hammer on the reverse of the coin is far from accidental. The young Republic of Soviets was only gaining momentum, and the cult of labor was in full swing. The worker, who swung his hammer over the anvil, embodied the best features of the simple working people: strength, will, love of freedom and kindness. The message of the artist is clear: “Everyone is the blacksmith of his own happiness”, and given the year of issue of the coin, building a new world, a new free state of workers and peasants was considered happiness. Half a ruble1924 is a kind of agitation, like many other things of that era.
Rare specimens with Old Church Slavonic inscription on edge
Among collectors, ordinary fifty dollars of 1924 cost no more than 600 rubles, but there are also those whose cost is several orders of magnitude higher.
At the very beginning of minting, due to the negligence of mint workers, some part of the mintage fell into the old guild rings left over from tsarist times. The result of the human factor was fifty dollars, which have an inscription in Old Slavonic on the edge: “Pure silver 9 grams (2z 10.5 d)”. Also, instead of the initials of Petr Latyshev and Thomas Ross, the letters ВС flaunted there - the name and surname of the former manager Viktor Smirnov. The owner of such a rare coin can sell it for at least $50,000.
One fifty dollars 1924 (silver) with rare initials
If you carefully consider the edge of this coin, you will notice that there is a dot between the letters in the initials, but not everywhere. Copies without this sign at auctions cost about 8,000 rubles.
There are also the initials FR, which stands for Thomas Ross, that is, the name Thomas is written in Russian. This trial small batch was released in England, such fifty kopecks are also at a great price. Only five copies are known, kept in private collections.
Other variants of the rare fifty dollars of 1924
A small circulation of silver coins was nicknamed "thin workers" by experts, because the size of the head of a hammer in thisbatches are somewhat smaller than on ordinary fifty dollars. There are also differences in the thickness of the hammer handle, in the location of the folds of the apron, in the shape of the blank.
Another valuable fifty can be distinguished from the usual one by looking closely at the circular inscription on the obverse: the comma on a rare copy does not come into contact with the inner rim, as on a standard coin.
In addition to those listed, there are options with a smooth edge, they are also of great value to collectors, their average cost is 25,000 rubles.
The convex globe on the coat of arms of the USSR with a shorter beam of the sun to the left of it is a sure sign that this fifty kopeck piece can be sold for much more than its face value.
Legend of the 1924 50 kopeck coin
There have always been many myths associated with the "silver hammerer". Until now, among novice collectors, there is a bike that there is a coin of one fifty dollars of 1924, cast from platinum. Allegedly, a series of such fifty dollars was minted in order to steal the precious metal from the mint under the guise of silver. However, there is no reliable information about at least one instance of platinum. This tale owes its appearance to one unfortunate numismatist, who deciphered the letters PL on the edge as “platinum”, but in fact it is clear that this is nothing more than the initials of the manager of the monetary redistribution Pyotr Vasilyevich Latyshev.
There is an opinion that in the near future the price of even ordinary fifty dollars, minted at the dawn of the USSR in millions of copies, will grow, as theyproduced in a country that no longer exists. Probably, it is worth thinking about purchasing them now, it will be a good investment of your own funds.
