The Coinage Of Peter I, 1696-1700
IVAN V AND Peter I became co-czars of Russia in 1682, but Ivan died in January 1696; Peter was now the sole ruler of a vast empire. From this point, the nation would never again practice the ancient Muscovite ways as the people were dragged by the giant czar into a new age.
One of the most important projects undertaken by Peter was the gradual reform of the archaic monetary system; his father Alexis had moved too quickly in the 1650s and riots had resulted. Peter was determined not to make the same error and the first step, in 1696, was merely to place a date on the wire kopecks.
Even the dating was unlikely to arouse any interest at first because Peter ordered that the old Russian system be used, based on the traditional dating of the Orthodox church, from the Creation of the World in 5508 BCE. The date 1697, for example, was shown as CE, or 200 + 5 = (7)205 (7205 – 5508 = 1697). In 1697 the wire altyn (3 kopecks), though struck in small quantities, was also dated for the first time.
While the dating reform was underway, Peter decided to realize his long-held wish of travelling to Central and Western Europe. Part of the journey was
