But what I am looking is the earlier history of Sweden and Russia. Perhaps back in 1714, there was a battle of the Swedish Navy versus. Peter I's new navy fleet, which is commemorated 200 years later as this particular coin:
(not a genuine coin - only for illustraton)
and on many other commemorative coins and medals.
More details about the Battle of Gangut can be read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gangut
The mystery is this: what sparked my interest between Sweden and Russia is actually from Rarenum's coin - see his post here: Link
Why was Swedish coins used? How were they obtained? When?
I believe the answer why is easy - simply because there was a lack of copper planchets or rather there wasn't decent technology to mine copper or refine copper to a massive volume required. How would be rather easy as it had to be the Russian navy that brought it back from the booty.
Now what is bothering me is when the coins were taken. Perhaps it might be from the Gangut battle when the Russian navy won the battle and took the Swedish booties. Here is a VERY interesting link and I highly recommand you to read: http://www.starsoft.fi/bothnia/skampaen.html
And here is a quote from the site that I find it most interesting:
QUOTE
Russian coins
A large number of Russian coins and also Swedish coins from the booty have been found at the investigated shipwreck sites, Svarthällan, Truthällan and Ryssberget. The fact that the vessels ran aground in shallow waters combined with the high rate of uplift thereafter (at least 250 cm) resulted in a considerable number of the objects being brought to daylight decades ago. What happened to them, though, we do not know. A substantial find of coins, consisting of about 600 Russian silver 'drop kopeks' made at Ryssberget in 1890 was catalogued and stored. In 1897, the Ostrobothnia Museum in Vaasa sent the find to the National Board of Antiquities, requesting their opinion on where the find ought to be kept. State archaeologist Johan Reinhold Aspelin replied on behalf of the National Board of Antiquities that "the above find is of no particular scientific value and will not be purchased by the state". The Ostrobothnia Museum, which had already bought the coins for its collection, got them back "until such time as the matter of buying the coins for the state can be brought up again" (PM Correspondence 1898).
The Russian 'drop' coins, which are still in the Ostrobothnia museum, date from the period between 1699 and 1712 and thus, like the other finds, support the theory that they come from the Russian offensive on the coast of Ostrobothnia in autumn 1714. The following list gives the dates, seals and number of the coins (PM Ryssberget, 'drop' kopek coins, bags 1-36):
only relevant parts translated!
denomination year ruler seal number
1 kopek Aleksei Mikhailovich
Ivan Alekseyevich
Peter the Great
after 1700
uncertain
Total
During the research currently under way, a leather purse containing 247 one kopek 'drop coins' was found at Svarthällan. These are at present being identified and restored, but it is likely that they date from the same years as coins of the old find at Ryssberget. The money was either for paying the seamen, as it was all of the same denomination, or then it could havesimply belonged to the men. The combined monetary value is not very great, however: the ruble, introduced in 1704, was worth 100 kopeks; the monthly pay of a seaman was then two rubles, which would make the 600 or so kopek coins found at Ryssberget the equivalent of three month's pay for a seaman and the Svarthällan find that of one month's pay. A first mate's monthly salary was 10 rubles, a captain's 25 and vice-admiral Apraxin's was about 200 rubles (Belik 1990, Sarvas 1990).
The Russians also had copper money at that time, but it had only recently come into use and was not as popular as silver money. Thus the Svarthällan finds of 1990 include only one Russian copper dengi (= ½ ruble) from 1704, the same year the first rubles were minted (PMK, the Närpiö report 1990).
Now this is VERY interesting. Copper wasn't just popular at that time! Well duh - copper coins were never too popular but the size of wire coins were painfully small. Perhaps the Swedish copper coins were only taken because it seemed to be some sort of novelties at that time. But when the overstrike occur? Probably 1757-1761 when modern 1 kopek coin featuring the emblem of Moscow was minted. The only reference I have come across so far was Dr. Spassky's image of an overstriked Swedish coin, but I don't remember there was more materials about it.
To top up the story - I just found another example that is awfully similar to Rarenum's example, i.e. the rotation of the overstriked layer and what is left from the underlying image. I will add the pictures tomorrow - I am still somewhat shocked.
Edited to add extra url and the illustration.
