Kopeck - Peter I

Peter I's wire kopecks — struck by the ancient chekanka method, hammering slugs of silver wire between hand-cut dies — were already an anachronism by 1702. Peter knew it. He was actively planning the decimal monetary reform that would arrive in 1704, introducing machine-struck coinage on Western European models. These final wire issues circulated alongside the earliest round coppers almost immediately after striking, making mixed-metal, mixed-technology pockets a brief Russian reality.

The 1702 date places this piece in the year of Peter's Nöteborg campaign, when military expenditure was accelerating pressure on the old coinage system to its breaking point.