Resourceful thieves. Russian Mint 0

[RWB]

"When the Czar Alexander was in the Mint at London, he related an incident showing the ingenuity of the thieves at home. Employees in his Mint entered naked, worked and came out naked, yet large quantities of gold were stolen by the process of stuffing with coins such rats as they killed, and throwing them over the wall where their friends were ready to receive them." [AJN January 1884 page 72.]

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by RWB

[Lem E]

It is amazing the lengths that people will go to just to steal something. 

[Henri Charriere]

I don't know which coins were ripe for theft but it seems the smallest could have been swallowed -- and passed on later.  I wonder what happened to the Mint and any reserves it may have been holding on D-Day in 1917...

[Mohawk]

On 8/21/2021 at 5:47 PM, RWB said:

"When the Czar Alexander was in the Mint at London, he related an incident showing the ingenuity of the thieves at home. Employees in his Mint entered naked, worked and came out naked, yet large quantities of gold were stolen by the process of stuffing with coins such rats as they killed, and throwing them over the wall where their friends were ready to receive them." [AJN January 1884 page 72.]

 

All I can say is.......WOW!!! That is just NUTS!!! Glad I didn't work at the Russian Mint in 1884!!

[Henri Charriere]

On 8/21/2021 at 8:37 PM, Mohawk said:

All I can say is.......WOW!!! That is just NUTS!!! Glad I didn't work at the Russian Mint in 1884!!

Good thing it wasn't a Mint in countries where rats are delicacies. Hey, vhere is dot rot Solzhenitsyn promiss me?

[Mohawk]

On 8/21/2021 at 8:50 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

Good thing it wasn't a Mint in countries where rats are delicacies. Hey, vhere is dot rot Solzhenitsyn promiss me?

Seriously!!! That could have led to....complications that I'd rather not think about.

[RWB]

On 8/21/2021 at 8:51 PM, Mohawk said:

Seriously!!! That could have led to....complications that I'd rather not think about.

Lots of workmen named, "Иван короткий член."

[Mohawk]

On 8/21/2021 at 10:07 PM, RWB said:

Lots of workmen named, "Иван короткий член."

I had to translate that using Google Translate but........

[Challenger]

On 8/21/2021 at 6:31 PM, Lem E said:

It is amazing the lengths that people will go to just to steal something. 

The everyday Russian has had, perhaps, the toughest of lives on the planet for many hundreds of years.  If you can imagine a misfortune in life, the Russians have experienced it.  I remember studying about what types of government jobs were considered the most desirable in the 1400’s and 1500’s and they were a class of positions known as кормление.

The literal translation is ‘feeding’, and that was what you got.  Your compensation was enough food to keep you from starving.  No money, just food. And not a lot, and not good food either. But as many government employees starved to death during these times, the compensation scheme was prized.  

After a millennium of this level of struggle, the one rule in Russian Society became ‘there are no rules’.  In many countries, if you were caught lying, cheating, stealing, or smuggling, people would express disappointment that you committed a crime.  In Russia, they would express disappointment that you got caught.  I am no proponent of crime, but I did grow to admire how endlessly creative folks became to survive.

[zadok]

On 8/24/2021 at 1:15 AM, Challenger said:

The everyday Russian has had, perhaps, the toughest of lives on the planet for many hundreds of years.  If you can imagine a misfortune in life, the Russians have experienced it.  I remember studying about what types of government jobs were considered the most desirable in the 1400’s and 1500’s and they were a class of positions known as кормление.

The literal translation is ‘feeding’, and that was what you got.  Your compensation was enough food to keep you from starving.  No money, just food. And not a lot, and not good food either. But as many government employees starved to death during these times, the compensation scheme was prized.  

After a millennium of this level of struggle, the one rule in Russian Society became ‘there are no rules’.  In many countries, if you were caught lying, cheating, stealing, or smuggling, people would express disappointment that you committed a crime.  In Russia, they would express disappointment that you got caught.  I am no proponent of crime, but I did grow to admire how endlessly creative folks became to survive.

obviously china has adopted this philosophy full heartedly in virtually all aspects of their current culture n especially in their dealings internationally...honor no longer holds an esteemed place in their society, the "no rules" attitude has evolved into a "use any and all rules to deceive" attitude...in any numismatic dealings just assume u r being cheated on multiple levels...essentially, just avoid all transactions n look elsewhere...

[Conder101]

Stuffing double eagles into dead rats and tossing them away then recovering them later was done at the US San Francisco Mint too wasn't it?

Edited August 26, 2021 by Conder101