Kopeck - Peter I

Peter I's wire kopecks — the so-called "cheshuyки" or scale money — were a medieval holdover he actively despised. These hand-cut slivers of silver rod, hammered between crude dies, had circulated in Russia essentially unchanged since the 16th century. Peter launched his monetary reform beginning in 1698, introducing machine-struck copper and silver denominations, yet wire kopecks continued to be produced through 1718 as a concession to rural populations who distrusted the new coinage.

By 1715, production was already winding down. The Moscow mint struck these final-year types in diminishing quantities alongside the reformed currency Peter had staked his modernization program on.