USSR 1924/25 20 kopeks silver - Authentic?

Can anyone make an educated judgement on the authenticity of these two coins?

I purchased them from a Canadian seller (at an eBay auction - selling price was US$3.25 for both - they came as a lot), and these two coins look awfully new and shiny for being 90 years old.

These coins have a distinctive high-pitched ring when dropped, diameters are just about right (21.6-21.7mm - compared to 21.8mm on the Numista catalog, I don't have a pair of vernier calipers so I suppose measurement inaccuracies have to be taken into account), and I can't weigh them because I've yet to get a machine, even though I've been telling myself to.

Image appended. <click to enlarge>

Thanks.

Hi adognoW,
                    I am into British coins so I looked them up. The value of the coins you have would make them pointless to fake as collectable items, so I think they are fine on that basis. The actual coins look OK - I couldn't see anything that caused me suspicion. Coins can keep lustre over a long period of time even further than 90 years, but as your coins are worn I'm guessing they have been cleaned at some point; a shame but nothing worth worrying about. You got them at a great price so I'd say it was a good buy and over time they will tone.

Thank you, Walder! I was thinking that one of the coins was cleaned too, but I couldn't find any of those tell-tale hairline scratches even using a magnifying glass. Are there ways of cleaning coins which don't leave those scratches?

I'm always suspicious of silver coins that I purchase because I have this niggling doubt that the precious metal content (even though silver is cheap) might appeal to someone as worth counterfeiting.

The coin doesn't need to be rubbed to clean it - the most common form of cleaning is dipping in a solvent like acetone.

I was gonna reply saying they are OK but cleaned. Walder beat me though so I won't bother.

It is entirely possible that this coin has spent most of its 90-year life out of circulation.

I have discovered many older coins that are in great condition.  Coins don't always spend the time between minting and current day in constant circulation.  Sometimes they live in a drawer for decades.  This is most likely for coins of quickly retired denominations or coins issued just before a currency replacement.

A good example of this is Yugoslav coins from the 1953-1963 period.  At most, they only circulated for ten years before the dinar was revalued in 1965.  I see many 1953 and 1955 Yugoslav coins that only show ten years of wear (or less), sometimes with an immaculate shine, in about the same condition as 2003 coins from my own country.

Given that your Soviet coin is silver, manufactured by a totalitarian regime that quickly abandoned silver coinage just a few years later, it is very likely that this coin was quickly hoarded for its precious silver content, fresh from circulation, held by a Russian citizen trying to preserve his wealth amidst the chaos of life in the USSR in the 1920s.

Totally in line with what Cerulean was writing, let me also bring another perspective into this thing:

In most of the ex-Socialist countries (or ex-Communist, if you will) like my own (Hungary) people were hiding some of the more valuable looking coins in their drawers or elsewhere, for two reasons:

1) If any coin has a precious metal content, more educated guys, actually hoarded them suspecting (rightly) that sooner or later the Socialist monetary system or sometimes "the ticket-system" will collapse, and silver and gold will always have value, so having an UNC Soviet, Hungarian, Polish, Czechoslovakian or Yugoslavian, Cerulean... coin should not come as a surprise.

2) The ex-Socialist countries did not have an operational banking system till the 1990s, so coins, banknotes would end up in the family wardrobes for future saving... some of them right after their mintage, so in really great condition.

Conclusion: Be relaxed: you have bought originals for not a bad price!
Imre

These coins were circulating just for a few years until their cupro-nickel counterparts showed up, so people hoarded them for a long time. However, as other posters pointed, they were cleaned at some point to make them look "shiny".

Quote: sccedaThese coins were circulating just for a few years until their cupro-nickel counterparts showed up, so people hoarded them for a long time. However, as other posters pointed, they were cleaned at some point to make them look "shiny".

DA