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Poltina - Peter I

Issuer Imperial Russian Mint
Year 1705
Type Standard circulation coin
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Obverse description Laureate and draped bust of Tsar Peter I facing right, with flowing curled hair and armored shoulders partially visible at the truncation. The effigy is rendered in a bold, slightly archaic style characteristic of early Petrine coinage. The Cyrillic legend encircles the bust along the periphery, reading the full imperial title of the Tsar. The inner field is unadorned, allowing the portrait to dominate the flan.
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Reverse script Cyrillic
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Additional information

The poltina — half a ruble — was reintroduced under Peter I as part of his sweeping monetary reform of 1701–1704, which sought to align Russian coinage with Western European practice. Prior to this reform, Russia had relied almost exclusively on small hand-struck wire kopecks; a milled silver coin of this size and weight was a deliberate statement of modernization, produced with machinery brought in partly through Peter's contacts from his 1697–1698 Grand Embassy tour of Europe.

The 1705 date places this piece among the earliest years of the reformed coinage, when production techniques were still being stabilized at the Moscow mint. Bit#558 specimens are noted for inconsistent edge treatment across surviving examples.

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