Description

Russian Empire, Beard Token 1725 23.70 g. Novodel (restrike). Square type. Rudenko B22.N; Bitkin 3903 (R2); Brekke 10. Selten / Rare. Graded NGC VF35. From the Antonin Prokop Collection, auctioned by Aurea Numismatika, Prague, December 2002, lot 111. Antonin Prokop was a renowned dealer and collector of Russian coins. During the Russian Revolution, his collection was confiscated by the communists, though he later managed to repurchase much of it. When the communists later occupied Prague, the collection was seized once again. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Prokop family recovered the collection and subsequently made these numismatic treasures available to private collectors. This token is a fascinating relic from Peter the Great’s efforts to “Westernize” Russia. Beard tokens symbolized the tsar’s admiration for Western European customs, where clean-shaven faces were the norm. Despite strong opposition to his order that Russian men shave their traditional beards, Peter permitted them to keep their facial hair—on the condition that they pay an annual beard tax, evidenced by tokens such as this one. The earliest square beard tax tokens were produced in limited numbers, with nearly all—except two examples preserved in the State Hermitage Museum—being destroyed. The present piece is an exceptionally rare 19th-century restrike of that original issue. Inv: G25118