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1 leu 1963 |
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24 mm diameter, 5.06 g, 95% steel plated with 5% nickel, flat edge denomination "1 LEU", ploughing tractor and sun rising beyond the mountains, at left oil rigs | Inscription "REPUBLICA POPULARA ROMANA" meaning "ROMANIAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC", year 1963 flanked on either sides by a pair of squares, Romanian coat of arms
Mintage: 71.910.000 coins |
In the monograph Monede și bancnote românești (Buzdugan, Luchian and Oprescu, 1977) these coins are presumed to be made from nickel. It seems to be in fact nickel plated steel. The rust on the edge of the heavy worn coins is a good argument in support of the steel core, because the nickel is very resistant to corrosion.
In the book Monetele României (Coins of Romania, by Iliescu and Radovici, 2004) is mentioned that this coin was struck in 1963 - 1965, all coins bearing the same year 1963.
The tractor represented on the coin is a UTOS tractor manufactured at Brașov. Most likely it is a 45 horsepower UTOS-26, the first Romanian tractor with tires meant for ploughing, model manufactured between 1957 and 1962 at Uzina de Tractoare Orașul Stalin (hence the name of the tractor), meaning Tractor Plant "Stalin City" . The city of Brașov was called Orașul Stalin between 1950 and 1960. UTOS tractors were manufactured under MTZ license - Minsk Tractor Plant, USSR, today in Belarus.
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