Altyn - Peter I

The altyn had a long and troubled history in Russian coinage before Peter revived it — the denomination had effectively disappeared from circulation during the monetary chaos of the mid-17th century. Peter's reissue was part of his broader currency rationalization program, an attempt to impose Western European monetary logic onto a system still tangled in archaic Muscovite conventions. The billon composition reflects the chronic silver shortage that plagued the early imperial mint throughout this period.

Production was short-lived. The altyn was abandoned again within years, never finding a stable place in the reformed coinage hierarchy.