10 Pennia - Nikolai II

Finland operated as an autonomous Grand Duchy under Russian imperial rule throughout this coin's production run, with its own currency — the markka — deliberately kept separate from the Russian ruble as a political concession dating to Alexander II. When Nicholas II tightened imperial control after 1899, stripping away many Finnish constitutional rights during the so-called "years of oppression," the Finnish monetary system was one of the few autonomous institutions left largely intact. The Senate in Helsinki continued authorizing coinage at the Helsinki Mint independently of St. Petersburg.

Production ceased abruptly following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Finland's declaration of independence in December of that year.