RUSSIA Catherine II Copper 1763 MM 2 Kopecks OVERSTRUCK on 4 Kopecks C# 58.5

RUSSIA 

Catherine II 

Copper 1763 MM 2 Kopecks OVERSTRUCK on 4 Kopecks 

Red Mint.Moscow

Weight-21,25 g. 

D-34;C# 58.5

The 1762 coins were overstruck by Catherine the Great because Peter III, who ruled briefly in 1762, had changed the monetary standard so that the value of the copper coins were doubled by halving the amount of copper. That is, the value of one ruble of copper was deemed now to be worth two rubles. One kopeck became two kopecks, two kopecks became four, etc.
Catherine changed the monetary standard back to what it had been previously. Although two kopeck and five kopeck pieces of Catherine are sometimes found struck over two and five kopecks of Elizabeth, most of them were struck over the 1762 issue to prevent coins of the same weight but different denominations from circulating concurrently. This is the primary reason that the copper coins of Peter are so scarce. Secondly, Peter’s coins had a distinctive design, so by seeing the traces of his designs on an overstruck piece, no signs of the date are necessary to identify the date of the undertype, since his coins were struck only in 1762.

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