coin
The earliest Russian coins were produced for the princes of Kiev in the 10th century and showed strong Byzantine influence. The staple coinage later came to consist of small silver kopecks and their halves (dengi) of Mongolian derivation. Ivan IV (1547–84) standardized the types of the dengi as “Tsar and Grand Prince of All Russia,” showing a uniform design of a mounted lancer. From the 15th to the 17th century unstable social and economic conditions were reflected in clipping and counterfeiting, until reforms began in 1654. Peter the Great (1689–1725) reorganized the currency: gold was coined regularly from 1701, and silver rubles and billon kopecks also appeared, together with copper fractions. In 1725, after Peter’s death, copper “plate money” was briefly produced (as in Scandinavia) at Ekaterinburg. Recoinage on a large scale occurred in 1741. Under Catherine II (1762–96) copper rubles of great size were briefly struck, and substantial five-kopeck pieces were in common production; Russian copper was also produced in Georgia. In the 19th century, Russian coinage followed conventional lines apart from the short-lived introduction in 1828 of platinum for pieces of 3, 6, and 12 rubles. The silver ruble, however, ... (200 of 32,716 words)Russia and the Balkans