Kopeck - Ivan IV Velikiy Novgorod, К-ВА

Ivan IV — Ivan the Terrible — standardized Russian coinage as part of his broader administrative reforms following the monetary chaos of the preceding decades, when clipped and counterfeit wire money had severely disrupted commerce. The kopeck wire coinage, struck by hammering between dies on irregularly shaped silver blanks cut from drawn wire, was the backbone of this reformed system. The Novgorod mint was among the most productive of the period, and the К-ВА mint mark sequence helps specialists narrow production to specific years within Ivan's long reign.