1/2 Kopeck Serebrom - Nikolai I Warsaw mint

The "serebrom" (silver) denomination system was imposed on Poland following the failed November Uprising of 1830–31, replacing the zloty-based coinage that had operated under the constitutional kingdom. By pegging Polish copper coins to fractions of a silver ruble rather than the discredited zloty, the Russian administration used currency reform as an instrument of political absorption. Warsaw continued striking copper under this system through the 1840s and into the 1850s, though mintage figures varied sharply year to year.

The 1848 date carries its own weight — revolution swept across Europe that year, and Russian authorities were acutely conscious of Polish sympathies with the insurgent movements in Prussia and Austria.