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Jefimok Rouble - Alexey Mikhailovich Countermarked over 'Brabant Patagon'
| Issuer | Imperial Russian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1655 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | The obverse displays the original design of the Spanish Netherlands Brabant Patagon host coin, struck under Philip IV, featuring a prominent crowned shield of arms at center bearing the quartered arms of Castile, León, Aragon, and other Habsburgian territories, flanked by the Order of the Golden Fleece collar. Surmounting the shield is a large imperial crown. The circumferential Latin legend, partially visible, reads elements of PHIL·IIII·D·G·HISP·REX and associated titles. Superimposed prominently at the upper field is the rectangular Russian countermark stamp of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich, containing the date '1655' in raised numerals within a recessed cartouche, applied by the Moscow mint to validate the host coin as legal currency in Muscovy. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 1655 |
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| Additional information |
The jefimok programme of 1655 was a wartime improvisation. With Muscovy fighting simultaneously against Poland and Sweden and desperately short of domestic silver — Russia had no productive silver mines of its own — Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered foreign thalers and similar large silver coins to be countermarked and placed into circulation at a fixed rate of 64 kopeks. The Brabant patagon, struck in the Spanish Netherlands, was among the most common western coins reaching Russian markets via Baltic trade and was heavily represented in the resulting issue.
The programme collapsed within a year. Valued above their metal content, the jefimoki were rapidly hoarded or exported, and the tsar withdrew them by decree in 1659.