Description
Born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili in what is today Georgia, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) is arguably the most prolific mass murderer in history. He had a hand in the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, the Great Famine of 1932-3, and the brutal Great Purge of 1937-8. As many as 30 million people in the former Soviet Union died as a result of his brutality—including scores of bank tellers blamed for hoarding silver coins in 1930, after Stalin attempted to remove them from circulation. This 20 kopek silver coin is one of the few survivors of that period, the last circulating silver coin issued by the Soviets. Also included are a 3 kopek from World War II and a postage stamp featuring his portrait.
