Rouble - Alexey Mikhailovich Novodel, Copper

The 1654 copper rouble was part of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich's disastrous monetary experiment — an attempt to pass copper coins at the face value of silver. The policy collapsed spectacularly in the Copper Riot of 1662, when Moscow citizens stormed the tsar's estate at Kolomenskoye after copper inflation destroyed their purchasing power. Production was abandoned shortly after.

This piece is a novodel — a restrike produced at a later date, almost certainly for collectors rather than circulation. Russian novodels were commonly struck in the 18th and 19th centuries from original or reconstructed dies, making precise die attribution the only reliable method of distinguishing them from any genuine survivors of the original issue.