Kopeck - Alexey Mikhailovich Copper, Pskov

The copper kopeck of Alexey Mikhailovich was born of fiscal desperation. In 1654, facing mounting costs from the prolonged war with Poland-Lithuania over Ukraine, the tsar's government began issuing copper coins at the enforced exchange rate of silver — a monetary experiment that rapidly collapsed into the catastrophic Copper Riot of 1662. Moscow was burned in sections; the rioters were crushed, thousands executed or exiled. By 1663 the copper kopeck was demonetized, redeemed at a fraction of face value. The Pskov mint was among the provincial operations stood up specifically to expand this ill-fated copper output.