In bronze, 65 mm wide, weighs 123 g. Created by Leningrad Mint medallier I. Fedin whose name is seen at bottom right on the reverse, next to the Leningrad Mint mark and the year. The obverse features the images of the Palace of Congresses and one of the Kremlin towers, done in an uncommon technique: raised but within a sunk border. The raised inscription above spells out "The Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR", with the years of its fiftieth anniversary underneath. The reverse shows the globe and the monogram "БВТ", the Russian abbreviation for "Bank for Foreign Trade". The medal was struck with a circulation of mere 1,120 pieces, very low by Soviet standards.

In excellent condition, free of any significant detriment and nicely "aged" by a very attractive patina.

The Foreign Trade Bank of the USSR was founded in 1924. However, it was preceded by ROSKOMBANK (Russian Commercial Bank) which the Soviet government allowed two years prior using the Swedish financial company Svenska Ekonomibolaget "on concession basis". Simply put, that meant "use the westerners' expertise, then throw them out". And so, the USSR Bank for Foreign Trade appeared in 1924, with the mission of servicing the economic activity of the state-owned and private companies involved with foreign agents. The following years, especially during WW2, were very interesting, full of state secrets and dark deals and certainly worthy of deep and focused research.

/See Commemorative [Table] Medal of the Soviet Period, 1919 - 1991, fig. 862/.

Please note, the penny in our photo is for size reference.