Joseph Stalin
Order code: STALINALB
Born Ioseb Besarion is dze J ughashvili in what is today Georgia, J oseph Stalin (1878-1953) is arguably the
m ost prolific m ass m urderer in history. He had a han d in the 190 7 Tiflis bank robbery, the Great Fam ine
of 1932-3, the deaths at the gulags, and the brutal Great Purge of 1937-8. As m an y as 30 m illion people in
the form er Soviet Union died as a result of his brutality.
Th e W h ite Ru s s ian Ba n kn o te
The Russian Revolution , which began in 1917, pitted the Bolsheviks, or Reds, against forces loyal to the
Tsar—the so-called White Arm y. After the 1918 execution of the royal fam ily, a corps of White Arm y
soldiers, led by Baron Wrangel, besieged the city of Tsaritsyn, whose m ilitary chairm an was J oseph Stalin .
Under Stalin’s savvy leadership, the Reds repelled Wrangel and his troops. The city of Tsaritsyn along the
Volga River was subsequently nam ed Stalingrad. This 50 kopeck banknote—featuring the double-eagle
crest of the Rom anov fam ily—was printed for the White Arm y by the Am erican Banknote Com pany; there
were U.S. troops helping the White Arm y along the Volga at the tim e. In 1920 , Wrangel fled Russia, n ever
to return; Stalin’s Reds had prevailed.
Th e “D e ath Se n te n ce ” S ilve r Co in
In 1930 , in the m idst of an econom ic crisis, Stalin decided that all hard-currency silver coins in circulation
would be replaced by base-m etal copper/ n ickel coins. This m et with resistance, as people began to hoard
the silver coins, and the ban kers responsible for their confiscation were not as successful as Stalin
expected. To m otivate the collectors, he went to his get-to strategy for problem solving: m ass m urder.
“The results of the battle against the coin shortage are alm ost nonexistent,” Stalin wrote to his protégé,
V.M. Molotov. The agents “probably clam ped down on a few cashiers and let it go at that... It is thus
im portant to a) fundam entally purge the Finance [Ministry] and Gosbank (Central Ban k) bureaucracy. b)
Defin itely shoot two or three dozen from these [bureaucracies], including several dozen com m on cashiers;
c) continue [Secret Police] operations throughout the USSR that are aim ed at seizing” the silver. This 20
kopek silver coin is one of the few, rare survivors of this period. The Soviets never again issued a
circulating silver coin.
Monetary system : 1 ruble = 10 0 kopeks
50 kopecks, P# S8 28, Size: 95 x 57.
Obverse: double eagle, the Rom anov coat of arm s.
Reverse: denom ination.
Im age is n ot to scale an d is for illustration purpose only.
This govern m ent treasury note was printed
by the Am erican Bankn ote Com pany.
20 kopecks, KM 88 , W: 3.6 g, D: 22.8 m m .
Obverse: national arm s within circle.
Reverse: value and date within oat sprigs.
Im age is n ot to scale an d is for illustration purpose only.
Minted in two types. Both featured the ham m er and sickle arm s. From 1921-23 the coins were inscribed
with the initials for RFSFR (Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic). After the end of the Russian
Civil War in 1923, the nation’s nam e was chan ged to USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Coins
m inted from 1924-1930 had the new in itials.
Co in s a n d b a n k n o t e s a r e p a ck a g e d in a h a n d s o m e le a t h e r e t t e fo ld e r , a lo n g w it h s t o r y
a n d ce r t ifica t e o f a u t h e n t icit y .
Alb u m o p e n m e a s u r e s : 11” x 7.5 ” ; A lb u m fo ld e d m e a s u r e s : 5 .5 ” x 7.5 ”.