Poltina - Peter I

The 1706 poltina belongs to Peter I's sweeping monetary reforms, which dismantled the old wire-money system and introduced Western-style milled coinage produced with screw presses partly staffed by foreign technicians brought to Moscow for the purpose. Production of silver denominations in these early reform years was chronically inconsistent — the Moscow mint struggled with both equipment and bullion supply while simultaneously funding the Great Northern War against Sweden. KM#124.2 distinguishes this from the closely related 124.1 variant, differences traceable to die work rather than any policy change.