1/4 Dukat - Mikhail Fyodorovich

Mikhail Fyodorovich, first of the Romanov tsars, ascended in 1613 following the catastrophic Time of Troubles — a decade of famine, civil war, and foreign occupation that left Russia's treasury effectively destroyed. These fractional gold pieces were not struck for circulation but as reward tokens, distributed by the tsar as personal gifts or payments for service. The practice had roots in Byzantine court custom and persisted through the Romanov period long after Western minting practices had been adopted for standard coinage.

Fr#34 is among the rarest Friedberg listings for early Romanov gold.