Russia, 1826

The 1826 Coronation of Nicholas I, issued in varying weights. {Up to 15.6 g / 3.657 Zolotnik though often 6-12 grams} Sev-399A; Diakov-446.9

See Heritage Auctions World Coin (CICF) Auction Catalog #3009, Rosemont, Ill:  12.4 g. 

The Platinum coronation medal weighed 13.56 g. (3.1788 Zolotnik)
The Silver coronation medal of the same dimension weighed 4.25 g.

Citation: Narrative of a Visit to the Courts of Russia and Sweden: In the Year 1830 & 1831, Vol. 2;  Charles Colville Frankland (1832)



Mid-April 1826: News of the Second-Half 1825 Annual Gold Yield reached Germany ; no mention of any platina discovery, however.

Citation: Oesterreichischer Beobachter p.521

As reported in Paris in late July 1826, in the Winter of 1825 the St. Petersburg price had declined by 1/3rd.  The second semester 1825 yield would have arrived in April or May 1826; expedient commercial news to Paris arrived 5 weeks later, early-mid June.

"These mines are so rich, this ensures that they have reduced Platinum {price} by one-third in St. Petersburg. "

Citation: Le Globe, 7/20/1826 ; Vol. 3 p.729


July 1826: The price had fallen 1/3rd between the Winters of 1824 and 1825.



January-March 1827 Volume;

Citation: The Encyclopaedia Britannica: Or, Dictionary of Arts..., Vol. 7; Vol. 15 (1842) p.254
 

Where the 1824 daily wage was 48 Silver Kopecks (=

“A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals”, by Donald McDonald and Leslie B. Hunt

George Matthey records in a letter dated Junee 9th, 1851, of which the copy is still preserved by Johnson Matthey , that: “Mr Johnson twenty-four years ago supplied the Russian Government at the request of Chevalier Benkhausen (the Russian Consul in London) with every information respecting the method of preparing platina, the intrinsic value, uses, andadaptation to coinage as a currency or circulating medium. ”

Coincident with the high production of valuable Platinum, 1826 & 1827 were two of the more stable years of the St. Petersbourg money-market.

The Great Coronation Medal of of Nicholas I weighed ~15.6 g (~3.646 Zolotnik)




A slightly worn example sold at Bonhams' in NYC for US$ 12,870 (including premium); the Spot Price was $1,673. Presuming the medallion .970 Fine Pt and a retail bullion premium of 5%, the numismatic premium on 12/8/2010 was 1,317%.   

In 1862, for a similar medal, the German numismatic premium was ~2,957% the bulk price of manufactured Platinum.