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Poltina - Ekaterina I portrait to the right
| Issuer | Imperial Russian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1726-1727 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of Empress Catherine I facing right, her hair elaborately dressed and adorned with a small crown or diadem, with loose curls falling to the shoulder. The effigy is rendered in a Baroque portrait style typical of early eighteenth-century Russian coinage, with visible drapery and pearl ornamentation at the décolletage. A circular Cyrillic legend runs continuously around the periphery of the field, separated from the bust by a plain inner border. The portrait occupies the majority of the coin's surface, conveying imperial authority in the Western European manner introduced under Peter the Great. |
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| Obverse lettering | ЕКАТЕРIНА·IМПЕРАТРIЦА·IСАМОДЕРЖИЦА∙ВСЕРОСIСКАЯ* (Translation: Ekaterina the Empress and Autocrat of all Russia) |
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| Additional information |
Catherine I's poltina (half-ruble) was struck during one of the more turbulent successions in Russian imperial history — she rose from Lithuanian peasant origins and Peter the Great's household to become empress in 1725, and the coinage of her brief reign reflects the administrative instability that followed. The Moscow mint had barely adjusted to post-Petrine production schedules when output priorities shifted again under Menshikov's regency influence.
KM#176.1 distinguishes the right-facing portrait from the left-facing variant, a die distinction that collectors treat as a true type separation rather than a minor variety. Catherine died in May 1727, cutting the issue short at under two years of production.