10 Kopecks - Alexander II / III / Nicholas II

The shift to .500 fineness in 1867 was a deliberate fiscal response to chronic silver shortages and the mounting costs of the Crimean War's aftermath — Russia had suspended specie payments in 1858 and was still reconstructing its monetary foundations a decade later. Reducing the silver content of subsidiary coinage was the practical compromise that allowed the mint to resume reliable production without draining reserves.

This type ran through three reigns and survived the Russo-Japanese War, the revolution of 1905, and the full mobilization leading into 1914, when wartime hoarding effectively pulled silver coins from circulation almost overnight.