Russia, Russian Empire (1721 - 1917), Catherine II, the Great (1762-1796), Ekaterinburg mint, 1781 AD.,
copper 5 Kopeks (40-41 mm / 45,35 g),
Obv.: 17 - 81 , crowned large J II E -monogram of Catherine II within wreath, date broken across fields.
Rev.: ΠЯTЬ KOΠЪEKЬ / E - M , crowned Russian double-headed imperial eagle with arms and insignia facing, denomination in Cyrillic legend on scroll below, mintmark E | M across fields.
Cr 59.3 . (mintage 43.404)
The Ekaterinburg mint was active 1727-1876. The only reason why there was a mint from Ekaterninburg is because Ekaterninburg is full of natural resources and it still does up to now. In 1725, striking of copper "plates" coins, inspired by the Swedish copper plates was tried out, but it was not terribly successful. Ekaterinburg used to mint copper coins, and later supplied copper planchets for Moscow Mints. Ekaterinburg's minting technology was pretty far behind compared to both Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and this could be told from their crude strike, which still existed until the late 1820s. Mintmark for this mint is denoted by E.M.
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