A counterfeit 1728 kopek?

[gxseries]

I honestly can't tell. Maybe you can do better than I did Will post good pictures later... it's getting pretty late here

[grivna1726]

I honestly can't tell. Maybe you can do better than I did Will post good pictures later... it's getting pretty late here

 

 

I'm not sure from the pictures. Please post better pictures and I will try to match them against the plates in GM.

 

It is very possible that the coin might be a contemporary counterfeit. The copper plate money of 1726-27 was issued at the standard of 10 rubles/pud (and the plates were theoretically of full value, so it is reasonable to say that the price of copper was close to 10 rubles/pud around that time).

 

The regular copper piataks and kopeks of 1718-1730 were struck to the standard of 40 rubles/pud (i.e. 40 rubles face value from 1 pud weight of copper worth only about 10 rubles). The large difference between the cost of the copper and the official value of the coins made it very profitable to counterfeit them and so Russia was flooded with false copper money.

 

This is the reason for the overstriking and revaluation of the earlier copper coins under Anna in the 1730s - to reduce the profit margin for the forgers and to bring the coins' face value more in line with their actual intrinsic value.