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Kopeck - Peter I
| Issuer | Imperial Russian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1705 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.28 g |
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| Obverse description | Struck on an irregularly shaped silver flan typical of wire money (chekhi) production, the obverse depicts an equestrian figure of the Tsar in profile, shown riding to the right and holding a long lance or spear directed downward toward a fallen figure beneath the horse's hooves, evoking the traditional St. George and the Dragon iconography long employed on Russian kopecks. The horse and rider are rendered in a bold, stylized relief characteristic of the hammered wire coinage tradition. The irregular planchet results in the design being only partially visible, with the composition occupying the majority of the available field. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Peter I's wire kopecks — the archaic "cheshuykas" hand-struck on flattened snippets of silver wire — were already an anachronism by 1705, a medieval technology still running alongside the tsar's forcibly modernized empire. Peter tolerated them only briefly; his 1718 decree formally ended their production in favor of machine-struck coinage from the new Kadashevsky and Krasny mints. The 1705 issues fall squarely in the transitional period when both systems operated simultaneously, the old wire coins still trusted by a peasant population deeply suspicious of the new round kopecks.