Twenty months ago I wrote of the Russian coin situation where the chief banker recommended that the two lowest coin denominations be abolished. This was in The E-Sylum volume 12, number 1, article 22.

Of course no action was taken to stop making these two low denomination coins. Now the problem is even worse. If we can believe an article published this week, it costs 45 times the face value of the lowly kopek to make and place the coin in circulation. It is even worse for the 5-kopek coin -- 69 times face value!

A ruble is 32 cents U.S. You can imagine the purchasing power of a coin one-one hundredth of that!

The Durma is the central committee to make the decision whether or not to eliminate the two coins. One Durma member stated �Even in the villages, where there are no roads, they use kopecks to make the floors.� I assume that was a literal translation. Perhaps the villagers are lining their floors with one kopek coins.

To read the article from the Financial Times check on:Russia's kopeck coin(s) (0.3 and 1.5 cent) may soon be scrap metal(freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2596127/posts)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:RUSSIAN BANKER RECOMMENDS DROPPING TWO SMALLEST COINS(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n01a22.html)