1 Kopeck - Peter I

Peter I's copper and billon kopeck issues of this period were part of his sweeping monetary reform that began in 1700, which introduced a decimal coinage system — one of the first in the world — replacing the old wire money ("chешуйки") that Russia had used for centuries. The 1718 date falls squarely in the middle of the Great Northern War against Sweden, when military expenditure was straining the treasury and the fineness of small denominations was being quietly reduced to manage costs.

KM#153 is a notoriously variable type in terms of planchet quality and die alignment, a predictable consequence of provincial mint production under wartime pressure.