96 Kopecks - Elizabeth Novodel, original obverse die

The 96 kopeck denomination was a short-lived experiment tied to a proposed currency reform under Elizabeth Petrovna, calculated so that one thaler-sized coin would equal a standard German reichsthaler in exchange — a concession to Baltic trade realities. The reform never fully materialized, and regular production was abandoned almost immediately, leaving original strikings vanishingly rare. What circulated instead were later novodel restrikes produced at the St. Petersburg mint for collectors, using surviving original dies alongside purpose-made ones. This example, struck from the original obverse die, occupies a peculiar middle ground: novodel in intent, but carrying genuine period tooling.