50 kopecks — USSR (1958)

Special facts

The fifty kopeks of 1958 is copper-nickel, 24 mm and 4.4 grams: less than half the weight of the silver fifty-kopek piece of the 1920s, which weighed 10 grams.

The coins of 1958

Catalogs list the 1958 coins as trial strikes, but they were not struck as experimental pieces — they were made in huge quantities, from 4 million for the 3 rubles to 175 million for the 20 kopecks. The batch was produced by the Leningrad Mint from March 1958 until early 1959. The coins were never officially released into circulation: in the early 1960s they were written off and melted down, which is why they are rare today, although a small part of the small denominations did reach circulation. The 1 kopeck is known in three die varieties (one with seven awns reaching the lower-left ray of the star, another with six awns and a different coordinate grid), and the 10 kopecks in a variety without the rightmost ray of the sun.

About the period

The coins of the USSR of 1924–1958 run from the first coins with the arms of the USSR to the last coins before the reform of 1961. Over these years the metals changed, and the arms on the coins were redesigned to follow the number of union republics. More about the period “Early USSR”, 1924 — 1958

Coins and banknotes of this year: 1958

Other items of the period

• 10 kopecks (1937–1946) Y# 109
  11 Ribbons
• 10 kopecks (1948–1956) Y# 116
  16 Ribbons
• 10 kopecks (1957) Y# 123
  15 Ribbons
• 10 kopecks (1958) Y# A130
• 15 kopecks (1924–1931) Y# 87
  7 Ribbons
• 15 kopecks (1931–1934) Y# 96
  7 Ribbons
• 15 kopecks (1935–1936) Y# 103
  7 Ribbons
• 15 kopecks (1937–1946) Y# 110
  11 Ribbons
• 15 kopecks (1948–1956) Y# 117
  16 Ribbons
• 15 kopecks (1957) Y# 124
  15 Ribbons
• 15 kopecks (1958) Y# A131
• 20 kopecks (1924–1931) Y# 88
  7 Ribbons
• 20 kopecks (1931–1934) Y# 97
  7 Ribbons
• 20 kopecks (1935–1936) Y# 104
  7 Ribbons
• 20 kopecks (1937–1946) Y# 111
  11 Ribbons
• 20 kopecks (1948–1956) Y# 118
  16 Ribbons
• 20 kopecks (1957) Y# 125
  15 Ribbons
• 20 kopecks (1958) Y# A132
• Poltinnik (1924–1927) Y# 89
• 50 kopecks (1958) Y# 133
• 1 ruble (1924) Y# 90
• 1 ruble (1958) Y# 134
• 2 rubles (1958) Y# A134
• 3 rubles (1958) Y# B134
• 5 rubles (1958) Y# C134

See all 56 in this period →