Counterfeiting Coins

The Russians counterfeiting ducats was simply a matter of expedience. The coins were of full content, and widely accepted. Much more so than a Russian 5 Rouble at the time or they would hardly have bothered with denigerating themselves to strike coins in the name of some other country.

 

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Right, the Russian ruble had a series of devaluations from the 19th century and into the 19th century. Any money that has been devalued doesn't exactly attract wide usage - and in fact - people will avoid taking it. In a similar vain the Russians, British, French were striking the Austrian Maria Theresa thaler of 1780 well into the 20th century as it was used in the Middle East. I know for a fact they were still being used in Yemen for certain transactions late in the 20th century - people I know with a petroleum company remembered seeing the coins in markets. Another coin the Russians made for trade was the "Bulgarian" 4 ducats in the late 19th century and early 20th century. These latter coins are now quite rare, and usually have a hole in them.