5 Kopecks - Nikolai I / Aleksandr II

The .868 fineness here reflects a deliberate reduction from the earlier .875 standard, part of Finance Minister Kankrin's 1839 monetary reform that stabilized the ruble after decades of assignat inflation had gutted public confidence in paper currency. The reform pegged silver as the basis of exchange and redenominated the entire circulating stock — these small silver kopecks were among the first issues produced under the new system.

Kankrin resigned in 1844, but the standard held through Nicholas I's death and into Alexander II's reign without alteration.