Elizabeth's copper coinage of the mid-1750s was produced under a monetary reform inherited from the reign of Anna Ivanovna, which had dramatically reduced the copper ruble's weight standard to 8 rubles per pud — a deliberate debasement intended to generate seigniorage revenue for a perpetually strained imperial treasury. The ММД mint mark denotes the Moscow Mint at Kadashevsky, the primary facility for copper striking during this period.
These pieces circulated hard in a cash economy where copper was the only denomination most peasants ever handled. The three-year window of this type reflects ongoing instability in copper monetary policy that would culminate in the catastrophic overproduction scandals of the 1760s under Catherine II.
Elizabeth's copper coinage of the mid-1750s was produced under a monetary reform inherited from the reign of Anna Ivanovna, which had dramatically reduced the copper ruble's weight standard to 8 rubles per pud — a deliberate debasement intended to generate seigniorage revenue for a perpetually strained imperial treasury. The ММД mint mark denotes the Moscow Mint at Kadashevsky, the primary facility for copper striking during this period.
These pieces circulated hard in a cash economy where copper was the only denomination most peasants ever handled. The three-year window of this type reflects ongoing instability in copper monetary policy that would culminate in the catastrophic overproduction scandals of the 1760s under Catherine II.