Kopeck
Kopek (from Russian копейка, until 1918 копѣйка, kopejka) is the name of a small coin issued by the former Russian Empire and a number of its successor states since the 16th century .
history
Due to the coin reform initiated by Helena Glinskaja , Ivan IV's mother , the coin was first minted in Novgorod in 1535 in approx. 0.68 g of silver, following the example of the Denga previously minted there . The original name Novgorodka of the silver coin soon disappeared. It was named Копейка (after "копьё", the Russian word for spear) , after the rider with a spear depicted on it, who is said to be the ruling tsar or St. George . On the back there was a multiline lettering with the name and title of the ruler. A corresponding ruble coin (with 68 g silver) for 100 kopecks did not exist at that time, but it was one of the first currency systems based on a decimal division .
In the course of time the coin lost more and more of its value; around 1610 it was only 0.51 g, around 1630 0.48 g, 1682 0.41 g and around 1700 0.38 g silver. From 1655, for the first time, kopecks were also minted in copper. In the 18th century, the copper kopecks finally replaced the denga as a dividing coin in Russia . At the same time, the silver kopecks, whose minting was discontinued in 1718 under Peter the Great, remained in circulation for a long time. Under Catherine I (unsuccessful) attempts were made with cliff imprints .
In the 19th century the tsar's eagle was embossed on the front. According to the ukase of 1849, the weight of a copper kopeck was set at about 5.1 g. In 1867, kopeks were also minted from bronze weighing around 3.3 g. The coin survived both revolutions and the socialist era, when it was a divisional coin for the Soviet ruble . In 1924 a copper kopeck with the Soviet national coat of arms was minted, and from 1926 a small aluminum bronze coin was minted.
At present in Russia there is a 1.5 g heavy kopeck coin, minted since 1997, again with a spear rider on the obverse, made of a copper-nickel alloy with an iron core, the purchase value of which tends towards zero.
In 2017, kopecks were in circulation in the following countries:
- Russian Federation : 100 kopecks correspond to one Russian ruble .
- Ukraine : 100 kopecks correspond to one hryvnia .
- Transnistria : 100 kopecks correspond to one Transnistrian ruble .
- Belarus : 100 kopecks correspond to one Belarusian ruble .
In addition, Qəpik , the name of the sub-unit of the Azerbaijani currency manat , is derived from the kopeck.