RUSSIA, Tsars of Russia. Pavl I Petrovich, 1796-1801. 5 Kopeks dated 1793 (1797) (Bronze, 45 mm, 48.30 g, 12 h), re-overstruck over 10 lightweight Kopeks 1796 from Ekaterina II Velikaya (the Great) overstrike of an earlier 5 Kopeks, Ekaterinburg. Crowned monogram of Ekaterina II divides date 17-93 within wreath. Rev. E М / ПЯТЬ•КОПѢЕКЪ Crowned double eagle facing with wings spread, wearing shield on breast depicting St. George slaying the dragon, and holding sceptre and orb; crown above. Bitkin 102. Brekke 9. Uzdenikov 2858. Rare. Minor marks and small deposits on the obverse, otherwise, very fine.


Paul I’s re-overstriking program of 1797 produced one of the most extraordinary episodes in Russian numismatics. Following Catherine II’s lightweight copper coinage - where 5 Kopek pieces were revalued by overstriking them with 10 Kopek dies - her successor Paul I reversed the practice by overstriking them yet again with 5 Kopek dies. In a calculated move to pin the blame on the previous administration, Paul I even had them restruck with Catherine II’s own designs (cf. B. F. Brekke: The Copper Coinage of Imperial Russia, 1700-1917, Malmö 1977, p. 176).

On this piece, the traces of the original 10 Kopeks overstrike are still clear. The obverse shows the obverse of the preceding overstrike with its dividing line (Brekke 42; alignment: 5 h), while the reverse clearly reveals the monogram of Tsarina Catherine II and the dotted border (alignment: 3 h). In short, this is a coin struck three times - one tsarina and one tsar, one devaluation, and two revaluations, all embodied in a single piece.