Although there have never been Belarus-only coins in circulation (the former Soviet republic uses banknotes exclusively), Belarus is in fact one of the more notable countries in the collectible coins world. This is because, since 1996, Belarus has been issuing a rather large number of special collectors’ proof coins every year, in copper-nickel, silver, and gold. With bold designs, a very wide range of subject matter, and a remarkable purity of metals, Belarusian coins are always hot on the market… and there seems to always be new ones issued to keep buyers interested!
Belarus, bordered by Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia, has as its unit of currency the rouble (рубель; plural рублёў), divided into 100 kapeyka or kopecks (капеек). Banknotes have been issued in both units, but coins are only in roubles.
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Belarus coin denominations and metals
Virtually all 1 rouble coins have been in copper-nickel; higher denominations are in silver and in .9990 pure gold bullion. Some of the denominations of Belarus coins since 1996 have been:
1 rouble — copper-nickel
10 roubles — mostly silver (first gold coin in 2005)
20 roubles — silver
50 roubles — gold
100 roubles — silver
200 roubles — gold
1000 roubles — silver
Belarus coin subjects
The things commemorated on Belarus coins are arguably the most notable aspect of these pieces. Animals (such as on the popular hedgehog coins), bits of culture from other countries (for example, Chinese zodiac sign coins), unexpected pop culture references (including coins featuring Alice In Wonderland) are produced, along with coins honoring heroes and places in Belarus, the Olympics games, and other more traditional coin subjects.
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Buyers of Belarus coins also like special subsets of the coins — for example, in addition to silver and gold coins, there are several Belarus coins with Swarovski crystals embedded in them. In particular, animal coins with Swarovski eyes are always very popular. Swarovski coins tend to be silver, though there is an occasional gold one for sale as well.
Since there is no “set” of general-circulation coins, Belarus coin sets tend to also be special issues. One of the more interesting is a set of nine coins honoring the Sun and 8 planets — the planet coins are silver and the Sun coin is silver with gold layering. This unique and beautiful set is a good example of the bold, interesting designs on Belarus’s coins.
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Plenty of Belarus coins for sale these days are uncirculated proofs. The selection is so wide that it is a lot of fun for collectors to choose what kind of coins they want for their Belarus coin collections.
