NGC Registry Featured Set: Russian Olympic Coins and Other Commemoratives

The 2026 Winter Olympics are underway in Italy, with the competition running through February 22. To honor the spirit of the elite athletes, we're putting a spotlight on an NGC Registry set of gold coins that includes several dedicated to previous Olympics. Samara Numismatist's G50R set is 97% complete and includes more than 100 Russia Proof Gold 50 Roubles.

The set covers Russian coins issued since 1992 covering a broad range of topics, including wildlife, anniversaries and important historical figures. In all, Samara Numismatist has filled 109 of the 112 slots, including all 14 Olympic-related coins. These include a 1993(L) 50 Roubles celebrating the first Olympic figure skating competition, held under the umbrella of the 1908 Summer Olympics in London in October of that year (16 years before the first Winter Olympics). Four skating events were held, with Russia winning men's special figures.

A 2006(M) Gold 50 Roubles celebrates the Olympics in Turin, Italy, with a skier on the obverse. While the Russians were shut out of medals in the alpine skiing events that year, they did collect gold medals in other events, including cross-country skiing. Russia finished in the top five in the total medals count.

Russia hosted its first and only Winter Olympics in 2014 at Sochi. This 2012(M) Gold 50 Roubles issued two years before the games shows one of its mascots, a polar bear. A 2014(2013)SP Gold 50 Roubles shows a figure skater. Russia edged the United States in the total medal count at the Games but later had four medals taken away amid an investigation into widespread cheating.

All but one of the coins in this NGC Registry set are graded a "Top Pop" NGC PF 70 Ultra Cameo, helping it win Best in Category honors for the past three NGC Registry Awards competitions. Thank you, Samara Numismatist, for sharing this fascinating set with the other members of the NGC Registry.

The NGC Registry is a free online platform where collectors register and display their certified coins and can compete against other collectors around the world for recognition and prizes. The NGC Registry continues to be the world’s most comprehensive online coin collecting platform thanks to you, our treasured collectors. This popular resource now boasts more than 42,000 users, 410,000 registered sets and 2 million registered coins.

Would you like your set to be featured in a future article? 100% completion in a set is not always feasible. Perhaps we will choose someone whose set has a personal story behind it or some interesting historical facts. We are looking for those sets where someone has taken the time to make the set unique and a reflection of his/her personal collecting style. It may be your set! Stay tuned.