World Silver - 1741 CNB Russia 'Poltina' 1/2 Rouble NGC MS64

Ivan III was born August 23, 1740 as the eldest son of Duke Anton Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Anna Leopoldovna.  The infant was proclaimed Tsar in October 1740 after the death of his great-aunt, Empress Anna. Young Ivan was governed by a regent until Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, staged a coup and overthrew Ivan on November 1741. She then proclaimed herself empress. As a result, Ivan, his mother Anna and her other children were sent to Kholmogory, where the child tsar was incarcerated and isolated, seeing only his prison guards for the next 12 years. In 1756, Elizabeth ordered Ivan to be secretly moved to Shlisselburg Fortress, a citadel near St Petersburg. He was held as the “nameless one”, his identity unknown even to the prison governor.  His cell contained no natural light and was only permitted to read the Bible. After the accession of Catherine II in 1762, Ivan was put into chains and the empress issued secret instructions to kill Ivan if there was any risk of him being freed from jail. When loyalists staged a bungled rescue in 1764, Ivan, at the age of 23, was stabbed to death by his guards. Ivan was the only Romanov emperor whose last resting place remains unknown after such a tragic life.