This small Soviet coin represents the 2nd denomination coin of the Soviet Ruble (Series 1961). Coins of this type were issued, along side the 6th Soviet Ruble. Which circulated from 1961, till the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Making this design fairly long-lived, in terms of modern currency.
The coin is a reeded-edged design made of a Brass alloy (58% Copper, 40% Zinc, 2% Manganese) and weighs 2 g. Its dimensions are 18 mm (0.71 in) wide and 1.1 mm (0.043 in) thick. Making it slightly smaller in size than a US Penny (19.05/0.75 in), in that respect.
Observe
The observe is fairly sparse, featuring the coin's "2 Kopecki" value and "1977" mint year. Despite having 15 official languages, the text is minted only in Russian. As Russian was the de facto language of government and commerce within the Soviet Union.
Besides this, the only embellishments are bound bundles of wheat. Used to wreath the observe text.
Reverse
The reverse features the Emblem of the Soviet Union, wreathed by bundles of wheat. Notably the wreathed contains 15 ribbons (7+1+7), known as orbits. These are used to represent the 15 Soviet republics. Below is the initials "CCCP", representing the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
It should be noted these initials are in Cyrillic script, rather than standard/Latin. As some unaware beginner collectors may make this misunderstanding.
Size Comparison
Additional Notes
The 6th Ruble replaced the previous 5th Ruble (1947-1961), at a rate of 10 to 1.
Kopeck is based on the Russian word for "Spear", as early Russian coins depicted a spearman on horseback.
Brass alloy was used to mint all 6th Ruble coins from 1-5 Kopeck, which only varied in size.
Due to fixed pricing, goods and services such as notebooks, pay phone calls, and some newspapers were consistently valued at 2 Kopeck.
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