2 Kopeks - Ekaterina II

The Tauric Mint in Feodosia (then called Kefe) was established in 1787 specifically to strike coinage for the newly annexed Crimean peninsula — territory seized from the Ottoman-aligned Crimean Khanate just four years earlier. Catherine II ordered a distinct regional coinage partly as a symbolic assertion of Russian sovereignty over the region, and the mint operated for less than two years before being shut down and its equipment transferred elsewhere. The entire Tauric output is consequently small.

Billon at this fineness was a deliberate choice for peripheral regional circulation, not standard Russian monetary practice.