A few years ago I bought a gold Russian wire coin identified as being struck during the reign of Feodor Alexeevich (1676-1682) from a coin dealer in Kansas City, Missouri named Errol. My father and grandfather have known Errol for decades and consider him a friend and very trustworthy dealer. Errol told me that he bought the coin from a Russian coin collector in the 1970s, but did not know anything else about where it came from.

Since I bought the coin, I have done a great deal of research on wire coins, but I can't seem to find another example to compare it to. For instance, many silver examples I have found don't show this side of the coin. In hopes of solving this mystery once and for all, I recently brought the coin to a shop in St. Louis, Missouri (Scottsman's Coin) and they sent it to both PCGS and NGC, but neither organization could certify it as a fake or an original.

As such, I am not sure how I should proceed. The reason I am writing is that I found an E-Sylum article about Frank Lapa, author of a small pamphlet on wire coins, and I am wondering if anyone has any information about the wire coins he counterfeited. I have attached a scan of both sides of the coin. I look very forward to hearing from someone.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:LAPA COUNTERFEITS(coinbooks.org/esylum_v05n52a07.html)
FRANK LAPA(coinbooks.org/esylum_v06n01a12.html)