Kopeck - Peter I

Peter I's wire kopecks — struck by the ancient "fish scale" method of hammering slugs cut from drawn wire — were already anachronistic by 1702. Peter knew it. He had just returned from the Grand Embassy to Western Europe and was actively dismantling the Muscovite monetary system in favor of a modern decimal coinage. These small silvers continued to be struck only because the peasant economy could not yet absorb the transition; they were phased out entirely by 1718 when the reformed copper kopeck took over routine small commerce.