Jefimok Rouble - Alexey Mikhailovich Countermarked over 'Spanish Netherlands-Brabant Patagon 1618'

The jefimok was never a true Russian coin — it was a fiscal improvisation. Facing a chronic shortage of silver and unable to refine sufficient domestic metal, Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich's government in 1655 simply requisitioned foreign thalers in bulk and applied two countermarks: a horseman punch and a date cartouche reading 1655. The underlying coin retained its original design entirely. A Brabant patagon of 1618, minted under the authority of the Spanish Habsburgs in the southern Netherlands, thus became legal tender in Muscovy by decree alone.

The program lasted a single year before being abandoned — the jefimok was valued at 64 kopecks, an awkward denomination that complicated everyday transactions.