10 Kopecks - Alexander II

These two years mark a narrow transitional window in Russian silver coinage — 1859 saw the introduction of a revised portrait type for Alexander II, replacing the earlier effigy used since his accession in 1855. The timing was not incidental: the early 1860s brought the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and with it significant fiscal disruption, after which silver subsidiary coinage increasingly gave way to issues in lower-grade alloys.

Y#20.1 distinguishes this from the subsequent type by mint mark placement on the reverse.