During the late fall of 1796 and the early winter of 1797, the new government of Paul I, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias since the death of his mother, Catherine II, on November 7, struggled to find a method to put the country back on hard currency; the curse of assignats (paper currency) was a drain on the economy. Patterns were struck in late 1796, but it was not until Jan. 20, 1797, that the final decision was put in writing.
On that date, the Czar signed a formal ukase (decree) that ordered the minting of silver coins in a new weight and fineness. Prior to 1797, the amount of pure silver in each ruble of .750 fineness was 18 grams, but the January 1797 decree changed this to a gross weight of 29.25 grams, .868+ fine. The amount of pure silver in the ruble was now 25.4 grams, a significant increase of 41 percent.
It is a historical axiom that nations invariably reduce the amount of precious metal in the coins as the years pass by, but Paul felt that Russia should do otherwise; it was a bold move on the part of the Czar. The whole point of this increase in weight was to tie the Russian monetary system to that of Holland. In the
