1/2 Kopeck - Nicholas II

The 1897 half kopeck sits in an awkward moment in Russian monetary history. That year, Finance Minister Sergei Witte pushed through a sweeping currency reform that placed the ruble on the gold standard — the real action was in the higher denominations. The copper fractions were largely incidental to the reform's ambitions, produced more out of institutional habit than economic necessity.

Bit#382 catalogues this as a pattern issue, which aligns with KM#Pn149 — meaning what survives are likely proof or trial strikes rather than circulation pieces.