People who are far from numismatics and collectibles may be truly surprised by buying up modern coins at high prices. However, for those knowledgeable in this area, there is nothing strange about this.
First of all, collectors are engaged in buying up coins, they are also called numismatists, which is not entirely true. The collection is assembled based on various characteristics of coins - country of circulation, year of issue, material, mistakes that were made during minting. Very rare coins are in special demand, and people who are really keen on collecting are ready to buy them for serious money. A great public outcry was caused by the statement of SKB-Bank on the purchase of coins in 2003 in denominations of 1, 2 and 5 rubles at 5,000 rubles per piece. However, according to numismatists, the prices offered by the bank are understated, since the real cost of a five-ruble coin in 2003 could be about 6,000 rubles, a two-ruble coin - 8000, and a ruble - 10,000. The fact that most of these coins are already in private collections was the reason Evaluation by some parties of SKB Bank's proposal as a kind of PR move. The coins issued in 2003 differ from the coins of the 1997 sample. Firstly, the inscriptions "Bank of Russia" and the denomination have changed places. Secondly, the size of the mint mark has changed. Thirdly, the style of writing the text and some other elements has changed. These changes were made in 2002. Then these coins were minted in Moscow and St. Petersburg for sets of numismatists. No coins were planned for 2003. However, the St. Petersburg Mint minted coins for sets every year, for this reason an exception was made to it. Due to the fact that the issued coins were not identified in numismatic sets, they ended up in circulation. Their limited number was the reason for the active buying of coins by collectors. Getting such a coin into their collection has become a must for most of them.
