1705-dated Imperial Russian Novodel Silver Half Rouble NGC MS-61 BIT-H554

This is a silver half-rouble (poltina) of Russia dated 1705, catalogued as Bitkin H554 and identified as a novodel (an official later restrike), graded NGC MS 61. The obverse features a laureate bust of a youthful Peter the Great facing right, wearing armor with a high collar and detailed hair, surrounded by a Cyrillic legend reading roughly “ЦРЬ ПЕТРЪ АЛЕКСЕЕВИЧЪ ВСЕЯ РОССИИ ПОВЕЛИТЕЛЬ” (“Tsar Peter Alekseevich, Sovereign of All Russia”). The reverse shows the crowned double-headed imperial eagle with outstretched wings, holding a scepter and orb, accompanied by a Cyrillic legend indicating the denomination and the date rendered in Old Church Slavonic numerals (҂АΨЕ for 1705), all within a beaded or reeded border. NGC has graded 3 coins overall, with one (1) in this grade and one (1) finer; a MS-62.

Struck during the reign of Peter I (the Great), this type belongs to the early phase of his sweeping monetary reforms that replaced traditional wire money with regular milled silver coinage based on the ruble and its fractions, helping to modernize and standardize Russia’s currency system amid the ongoing Great Northern War against Sweden (1700–1721). The year 1705 fell in a critical period of military reorganization, the recent founding of St. Petersburg (1703), and efforts to westernize Russian society and administration; novodels such as this example were produced later (often in the 18th or 19th century) from original or specially prepared dies to supply collectors and museums with high-quality specimens of these historically important early imperial issues.