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Kopeck - Mikhail I
| Issuer | Russian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1613-1617 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | A mounted horseman, representing the Tsar, depicted in profile galloping to the right, brandishing a long spear held diagonally across the field. The rider is shown in a traditional stylized manner characteristic of early Romanov wire money, with the horse rendered in vigorous motion, forelegs raised. The design is struck on an irregular oval flan typical of the chekha (wire-cut) coinage, with the relief showing the characteristic flatness and displacement of the hammered technique. No legend appears on this side. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Mikhail Romanov's accession in 1613 ended the Time of Troubles — a decade of famine, civil war, and foreign occupation that had gutted Russian minting capacity entirely. These early Romanov kopecks were struck by hammer using the same wire-money technique that Russian mints had employed since Ivan III, a medieval method already obsolete across most of Europe. The flans were cut from drawn silver wire and hammered between hand-cut dies, producing the characteristic fish-scale shape.
Mikhail's first years on the throne were financially precarious enough that coin silver purity remained a genuine policy concern, with the state closely guarding the .960 fineness standard inherited from his predecessors.