I honestly never thought of the day I would even obtain one of Peter III copper coins because of the scarcity and price, much less obtaining the entire set! Here are the pictures: Peter III copper coinages were scarce for a good reason - Peter III only ruled Russia for about 6 months and due to a copper shortage, all copper coins were ordered to be overstruck to be twice of the face value, i.e. 5 kopek coin as 10 kopek, 2 kopek as 4 kopek and 1 kopek as 2 kopek. This didn't last too long and in the next year, the coins were ordered to be re-overstruck over the next few years. This is an example: While Catherine II coins that were overstruck over Peter III coins are common, the same cannot be said for Peter III coins that were overstruck over Elizabeth I coins. As Peter III wasn't a popular Tsar, most of his coins if they did circulate were either overstruck or probably forgotten in people's pocket change, only to be discovered years later.
Very interesting, thanks for posting them. I have some of the large 5 kopecks of Catherine II but I will admit I have not researched early Russian copper very much. Very cool!
WOW @ the second and third coins. The 1862 over-strike varieties with stars are highly desirable. I've seen fairly high grade 4 kop do $800+ and the 10 kop at twice that at auction. They are scarce and valuable in any grade though.
