Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Kopeck - Peter I
| Issuer | Russian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1704 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.28 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Cyrillic |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse bears a six-line Cyrillic inscription occupying the entire field of the irregularly shaped flan, rendered in bold hammered letters characteristic of late wire-money production. The legend reads in abbreviated form: ЦАРЬ И ВЕЛИКИЙ КНЯЗЬ ПЕТР АЛЕКСЕЕВИЧ ВСЕЯ РУСИ (Tsar and Grand Prince Peter Alexeyevich of All Rus), distributed across six compressed lines. The lettering fills the available surface with no decorative border or frame, consistent with the wire-kopeck format. Individual letter forms display the archaic Muscovite style, with ligatures and abbreviations standard to early eighteenth-century Russian coinage. The flan edges are irregular and uneven, a natural consequence of the wire-cutting and hammering technique. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The 1704 kopeck marks a pivotal moment in Peter I's currency reform — the same year he introduced the full ruble coinage system, establishing a decimal relationship between the kopeck and ruble that replaced the chaotic wire money ("cheshuyky") that had dominated Russian circulation for centuries. These tiny silver pieces were among the first machine-struck coins produced at the newly modernized Moscow mint, where Peter had installed Western European equipment and craftsmen specifically to end the primitive hammered coinage tradition he considered an embarrassment to his modernizing state.
At 0.28 g, survivorship is poor. Most examples that exist today come from hoards rather than individual finds.