Russia: Rouble Forgeries May Reveal mid-19th Century Global Arbitrage

Overestimating platina's value, the high price of the St. Petersburg Mint perhaps encouraged global traders to attempt (illicit) arbitrage, as Faraday suggested.   Platinum scholars have long misunderstood Russian fears of counterfeit coinage, which merit further investigation.

Rehren (2012) described gold inclusions on one circulated coin specimen analyzed as "enigmatic"; the date "1838" corresponds to a likely production around the time (1840) when Russian fears of Platinum counterfeiting were officially and bluntly stated. See "Chemical composition of Russian platinum coins" Rehren et al 2012 NumChron 172)  

Platinum Roubles in the collections of Heraeus & Johnson & Matthey have been carefully analyzed - perhaps impurities in dubious coins reveal their origins? Some counterfeits may not be later numismatic forgeries (so-called Novodel issues) as everyone has suspected, but rather (illicit) coinage of imported ore/provenance.  

http://www.platinummetalsreview.com/article/50/3/120-129/

In particular, the high value Au and Rh content of the 1844 3-Rouble in the Heraeus Collection may suggest Colombian ore.  We might tentatively infer that specimen was coined c.1846 (when the global metal price had fallen rather dramatically.)   

The Heraeus 1844 3-Rouble might be an imported counterfeit or illicit coin from this period.

1829:
Citation: St. Petersburgh: A journal of travels to and from that capital ..., Vol. 2, By Augustus Bozzi Granville


The Russian State Mint would have looked an easy target, if in fact a buyer of last resort.