Back in 1902, these 5 Rouble gold coins were struck in Russia by the last Czar – Nicholas II. In that year Vladimir Illyich Lenin – who was to overthrow the government a few years later -- wrote that a "coherent, strictly controlled party of dedicated revolutionaries was a basic necessity for a revolution."
Amazingly these coins have survived both the Russian Revolution and World War II in lustrous Choice Brilliant Uncirculated quality . Each is minted from 4.3 grams of .900 fine gold (larger than a U.S. Quarter Eagle gold coin).
If only these coins could talk! They could tell how, as the Nazis began their attack on Norway, 50 tons of these old Russian gold coins and others in the Norge (Norwegian National) Bank were taken away in trucks, then moved by train, and finally by ships to the United States. Safe in American vaults, they were used by the Norwegian Government in Exile to meet wartime expenses. Later, this gold financed Norway 's joining the International Monetary Fund. And finally they were sold in 1988 in the largest such sale, as recorded by the Guinness Book of Records.
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