Jefimok Rouble - Alexey Mikhailovich Countermarked over 'Saxony Thaler'

In 1655, facing a severe shortage of silver bullion and the mounting costs of war with Poland-Lithuania, the Muscovite treasury authorized the countermarking of foreign thalers — primarily Joachimsthaler and Saxon issues — with Cyrillic stamps to give them legal currency within Russia. The jefimok, derived from "Joachim," was the Russian name for any thaler pressed into service this way. Each coin received two stamps: a horseman punch and a date cartouche reading 1655, applied simultaneously in a single operation.

The experiment lasted less than a year. Widespread public refusal and the simultaneous debasement crisis triggered by copper roubles caused Alexei Mikhailovich's government to withdraw the jefimok from circulation by 1659.