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 10 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.
The Bolshevik revolutionary-turned-dictator Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953. He was arguably the most prolific mass murderer in history. This set contains one...
