Just remember that novodels were official products of Russian Government mints; their dies were engraved by government engravers and they were issued under Russian Government authority. They are in no way fakes or counterfeits. They were eagerly sought by wealthy contemporary collectors who, in many cases, were not able to obtain original coins of those designs or were not able to find original coins in collectible condition. Novodels fall into the broad category of collector objects not destined for commerce such as all proof coins, pattern coins, medals, buttons, etc. But more specifically, Russian Novodels are just as much a part of Russian numismatic history as the 1804 US silver dollar is a part of American numismatic history, since it, too, is a novodel. By the way, the 1804 dollar is one of the most famous and popular American "coins" even though it is a reproduction produced from around 1834 to the 1850's in several emissions. It typically sells for millions of dollars.
If one is a student of Russian Numismatic history, then the possible collection of novodels is a natural outcome of that study as is the possible collection of wire money or beard tokens. In fact associating a coin to a specific date is only a recent phenomenon. Ancient coins were, in many cases, minted over many years, with no definite indication of their date of production except a rough indication when a monarch might be mentioned or depicted. Many dies were used, and in most cases one cannot tie a coin to a specific year. The Romans were better about dating, but it is still an inexact science to associate a specific date with a coin.
I mention this because it makes no sense to me for some to denigrate the collection of a whole class of numismatic objects just because they were not struck for commerce or because the date on the coin might not coincide with the date of manufacture.