Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name is derived from the Spanish term "platino", meaning "little silver".
Platinum coin
Despite the large circulation of the Olympic platinum coins (about 20,000, compared with 750 pcs. for the 1993 series "Russian Ballet"), they are difficult to find at the Russian numismatic markets. This is mostly because of the level of export to America, Europe, and Israel. Since 1977, the commemorative platinum coins have been issued every year, but designs unrelated to the Olympics appeared only on 13 September 1988, with the series "1000 years of ancient coinage, literature, architecture and the Baptism of Russia." The series consisted of two silver coins (3-ruble, "Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev" and "Srebrenic of Vladimir"), two gold coins (50-ruble "Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod" and 100-ruble "Zlatnik of Vladimir"), the 25-ruble palladium coin "Monument to Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich", and the 150-ruble platinum coin "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". This series was the first time palladium was used for minting coins. This series was highly praised internationally and awarded the first prize for the quality of minting at the 1988 numismatic exhibition in Basel.