Obverse. Photo © Bank of Russia
  • 10 Rubles 2016, Russia, Federation, Russian Federation, Irkutsk Oblast
  • 10 Rubles 2016, Russia, Federation, Russian Federation, Irkutsk Oblast
Description

In 2005 the Central Bank of Russia commenced a series of bi-metallic 10 Rubles coins paying tribute to the regions of the Russian Federation. According to the Russian Constitution, the Russian Federation consists of republics, krais, oblasts, cities of federal importance, an autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs, all of which are equal subjects of the Russian Federation. Three Russian cities of federal importance have a status of both city and separate federal subject. In 1993, there were 89 federal subjects listed. By 2008, the number of federal subjects had been decreased to 83 because of several mergers. In 2014, Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea became the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia.

Obverse

In the center of the disc indication of the denomination of the coin: 10 RUBLES, inside of the figure 0 hidden pictures of the number 10 and of the inscription RUB visible by turns on changing angle of vision, in the lower part of the disc the mint trade mark MMD, on the ring along the rim above the inscription: BANK OF RUSSIA, below the year of issue 2016, to the left and to the right stylized twigs of plants going over to the disc.

БАНК РОССИИ
10
РУБЛЕЙ
ММД
2016

Reverse

The coat of arms of the Irkutsk Oblast, the inscriptions along the rim divided by two dots: above RUSSIAN FEDERATION, below IRKUTSK OBLAST.

Irkutsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia, located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is the city of Irkutsk.

The coat of arms of Irkutsk Oblast features an old symbol of Dauria: a Siberian tiger with a sable in his mouth. When the coat of arms was devised in 1690, the animal was described as a tiger ("babr", a bookish word of Persian derivation) with a sable in his mouth. This image had been used by the Yakutsk customs office from about 1642. It has its origin in a seal of the Siberia Khanate representing a sable and showcasing the fact that Siberia (or rather Yugra) was the main source of sable fur throughout the Middle Ages. By the mid-19th century, the word "babr" had fallen out of common usage, but it was still recorded in the Armorial of the Russian Empire. Furthermore, the tigers became extinct in this part of Siberia. In the 1870s, a high-placed French heraldist with a limited command of Russian assumed that "babr" was a misspelling of "bobr", the Russian word for "beaver", and changed the wording accordingly. This modification engendered a long dispute between the local authorities, who were so confused by the revised description that they started to depict the "babr" as a fabulous animal, half-tiger and half-beaver.

Artist: A. D. Schablykin
Sculptor: E. I. Novikova

• РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ •
ИРКУТСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ

Edge

300 corrugations and the inscription ДЕСЯТЬ РУБЛЕЙ (TEN RUBLES) recurring twice and divided by asterisks.

ДЕСЯТЬ РУБЛЕЙ ⋆ ДЕСЯТЬ РУБЛЕЙ ⋆

Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Bi-Metallic
Ring Brass
Center Cupronickel
Weight 8.4 g
Diameter 27 mm
Thickness 2.1 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Moscow Mint (MMD)

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