Kopeck - Mikhail I МО

Mikhail Romanov's accession in 1613 ended the Time of Troubles — a decade of dynastic collapse, famine, Polish occupation of Moscow, and at least two rival tsars ruling simultaneously. The wire-money kopecks struck in his earliest years were produced using the same crude medieval technology that had been standard Russian practice for over a century: silver wire cut to weight, then struck between dies with hand hammers, producing the characteristically irregular fish-scale shape. Moscow mint output during 1613–1617 was critically important to restoring basic commercial function in a country whose monetary infrastructure had been severely disrupted by years of competing authorities issuing debased coin.