Rouble - Catherine I

Catherine I ruled for just twenty-seven months following Peter the Great's death in January 1725, and the rouble issues of her brief reign were produced under genuinely chaotic conditions at the Moscow and St. Petersburg mints. She had no formal claim to succession beyond Peter's unratified decree — itself a document of contested authenticity — and the court factions that propped up her reign were already maneuvering against each other before the dies were cut.

The .728 fineness reflects a deliberate debasement from the Petrine standard, pushed through by Menshikov's administration to cover mounting state debts. KM#177.1 distinguishes the Moscow mint variety; St. Petersburg struck its own parallel issue under different die sinkers, and the two are separated primarily by mintmark placement.