The history of the Russian ruble has more than 700 years. For the first time the term "ruble" was applied to characterize a silver bar as a stick bar at the end of the 13^th century in Novgorod. The bar had a weight of 200 grams and quite often it was cut in halves, which were called poltiny. In addition, there were also a number of smaller units, including vekshi, kuni and zherebya.

The coinage of the silver coin "scale" started in Russian principalities during the 14^th century. It weighted 1/200 of the ruble/bar. The starting point of the coinage of money is the period when the grand duke Dmitry of Don battled Tartars. A lot of grand dukes started minting coins by the 15^th century. Novgorod started striking coins since 1420 and Pskov began minting money in 1425.

Ten years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which occurred in December of 1991, Russia continues to settle a modern market economy and looks forward to improve its economic growth. Although Russia's political partners from the Central Europe could come back from the declining production through the introduction of various market reforms in the period of 3 to 5 years, the country's government hesitated on implementation of a number of basic market economy foundations.

For the first time coins struck on the territory of today's Russian Federation were made by the Greek colonies that settled on the Black Sea. They minted coins starting with the 5^th century BC. The Romans began striking their coins in present-day Russia since the 1^st century BC. Besides ancient Greek and ancient Roman coins, there were also coins struck by the Bosporan kings. These coins looked like the ones minted by the Romans and they continued to be issued till the reign of King Rhescuporis VI (304-342). The Russians began striking their own coins starting with the reign of Vladimir I, a Tsar of Kiev who ruled in the period between 978 and 1015.

Usually coin collecting begins with ordinary pennies or quarters. Most collectors started their huge collections as children and now most of them have an impressive range of various extremely rare specimens. Today rare coins are very valuable, but what is the biggest value or price paid for a rare coin? The most expensive coins in the world are presented below.

5. The Australian Proof 1930 Penny - $517,345

Number 5 in the list is this Australian 1930 penny. According to numismatic experts, only 6 of such coins were struck by the Melbourne Mint. In order to make this penny, the mint used polished blanks and dies, which were specifically treated. Three coins are held by private collectors, one can be seen at British Museum, another 1930 penny is presented at Museum Victoria and the last one is held by the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Numismatics is considered to be a historical discipline meant to answer certain questions while focusing on history and its matters. Specialists believe that coins are able to satisfy both esthetical and spiritual needs. Numismatics allows a person to explore and discover the evolution of coins and thus get in touch with history. Collecting coins, medals and paper money involves two main goals: personal satisfaction and a good investment.

Every person chooses what he/she mostly prefers for making a collection of coins. The main principle of creating a collection relies on one's proper interest, desire and possibility to start and continue it.

When Communists took the power over Russian Empire, they were not satisfied with the idea of remove from power tsar Nicholas II. They rushed into confiscating everything that was related to him. They destroyed paintings, books, statues, manuscripts, etc. In addition they eagerly and unceremoniously destroyed gold coins that embodied the portrait of the Russian tsar. These coins are quite valuable as they represent the end of the Romanov dynasty and mark the Imperial Russia's last great decade.