Kopeck: coin of Ober Ost (German Military Coinage, 1916); 1/100 ostruble

KOPECK: COIN OF OBER OST (GERMANY)

3 kopecks (копейки), 1916: Ober Ost (German Military Coinage; World War I)

3 kopecks (копейки), 1916: Ober Ost (German Military Coinage; World War I)

Ober Ost (Oberbefehlshaber der gesamten Deutschen Streitkräfte im Osten) was a military district on the Eastern Front controlled by the German Empire during the First World War: Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, part of Poland and North-West Russia (former lands of the Russian Empire). For the convenience of the local population in the lands of Ober Ost, the denomination of coins was indicated by the Germans in the usual kopecks (banknotes — in rubles /so-called, ostruble/).

Ruler: Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert) — the last German Emperor (1888-1918) and King of Prussia.

German Military Coinage (World War I).

3 КОПѢЙКИ - 1916: 3 kopecks, 1916 (the denomination of the coin is indicated according to the rules of Russian pre-reform /pre-revolutionary/ spelling: "копѣйки" not "копейки").

Iron Cross: a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia (later — the German Empire and Nazi Germany).

GEBIET DES OBERBEFEHLSHABERS OST: territory / department of the Supreme Command (commander-in-chief) of the Eastern Front.

A: symbol of the Berlin mint, Germany.

Oak leaves.

Mintage: 8.670.000.

  • Iron: 27.5 mm - 8.65 g
  • Reference price: 17$

COIN KOPECK (KOPEK) — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
  1. OBER OST, GERMAN MILITARY COINAGE (1916): kopeck = 1/100 ostruble
  2. RUSSIA (16th century-...) — GRAND DUCHY OF MOSCOW + TSARDOM OF RUSSIA + RUSSIAN EMPIRE + SOVIET UNION + RUSSIAN FEDERATION: kopeck = 1/100 ruble
  3. PRIDNESTROVIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC, unrecognised breakaway state Transnistria (2000-...): kopeck = 1/100 ruble

The most similar derivative denominations of coins are considered separately in numismatics: kopiika (Ukraine), kapiejka (Belarus), qəpik (Azerbaijan)...

I also consider it necessary to study the following types of kopecks separately: kopeck serebrom, pol kopeck, denga-kopeck | para, kopeck | akçe, kopeck-ruble | grosz-zloty...


As for the name of the coin kopeck or kopek (Russian "копейка" — kopeyka), it comes from the depicted on the first coins of this type of rider with a spear (Russian "копьё" — kop'yo), in contrast to the rider with a saber on denga coins.
The fact is that by the 16th century in the Russian lands gained popularity two silver coins: the denga of Moscow and twice as heavy denga of Novgorod.
As a result of the monetary reform in 1535 there was a new denomination of Russian coins — kopeck, which became a descendant of the Novgorod denga. Moscow's denga was later called just denga and was half a kopeck.