| Late 17 – Early 18 century. Radical Reform of the Monetary System and the Improvement of the Coinage Industry by Peter the Great |
The monetary reform began in 1698 and has become one of the first large-scale reforms carried out by Peterthe Great. To a certain extent that reform laid the foundation for many other reforms and developments since it regulated rather chaotic and archaic monetary system that existed in Russia in the 17th century and provided an opportunity to increase state income ensuring growing cost of the Northern War. The reform started when the weight of an old silver kopeck was diminished in 1698 and new small copper coins, mites, half-mites and dengi, were introduced into circulation in 1700. After that silver and gold coins of the new designwere put into circulation while pre-reform coins continued to be minted in limited numbers until 1718. The correlation between coins made of different metals were strictly defined and for the first time in international practice the basis of the monetary system was the decimal system (1 rouble was equal to 100 kopecks).
Peter the Great paid special attention to the technical improvement of coinage. A coin is one of the major elements of the state power and the quality of its technical and artistic performance has always had an impact on prestige of this or that state abroad. However, the level of coinage in Russia in the XVIIth century was far behind the European level. During his trip to Europe, Peter the Great paid a special visit to the London Mint, where he carefully studied details of the coinage process. And it was then that Peter the Great ordered to purchase spindle presses for stamping coins in Russia.
 The use of the new technologies made it possible for Russian coining business to rise to the contemporary European level. In fact, Russian coins in the modern sense of the term first appeared in the times of Peterthe Great: they were of a regular round shape, with a well-defined pattern and were coined mechanically.
| 
