Description

A polushka was a Russian coin with value equal to 1/4 kopek. Production of polushkas as minted coins began in 1700 under Peter the Great. Mintage continued, off and on, until 1916, just before the Romanov dynasty ended in 1917.

Coins were minted in Moscow (the Krasny mint and temporary mint near Yauza river) and Yekaterinburg, and cannot be identified by mint. There are plenty of variations. The major ones: reeded or circle patterned edge, big or small rosette on the reverse. Lots of coins were minted over kopeck of the Peter II (KM# 185).

Anna Ioannovna (1693-1740), also spelled Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, was regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740.

Ivan VI Antonovich of Russia (1740-1764) was nominally Emperor of Russia in 1740-41. He was only two months old when he was proclaimed Emperor and his mother named regent. Scarcely a year later his first cousin twice-removed, Elizabeth, seized the throne in a coup, ruling thereafter as Empress of Russia. Ivan and his parents were imprisoned far from the capital and spent the rest of their lives in captivity. After more than twenty years as a prisoner, Ivan was killed by his guards when some army officers (unknown to Ivan) attempted to free him.

Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1762), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, was the Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death. She led the country into the two major European conflicts of her time: the War of Austrian Succession (1740–48) and the Seven Years' War (1756–63). She encouraged Mikhail Lomonosov's establishment of the University of Moscow and Ivan Shuvalov's foundation of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs due to her strong opposition to Prussian policies and her decision not to execute a single person during her reign.