Did you know that square coins were minted in Russia around 1725-1727?

There was a shortage of silver in the empire at that time. To replace it, they found red copper, which was mined with more ease and in greater quantities in the Urals.

The square coins were large in size compared to the regular ones because they had to have the value of sliver currency with a far cheaper metal being used.

Many at the time referred to these unusual coins by the sarcastic term “boards” .

Copper coins of the “board” variety began being minted at the Yekaterinburg mint. They had the form of a square plate, at the corners of which there were images of the coat of arms of the empire and in the center was written the denomination, the place of minting and the year. This was probably done as they could continue to use the old stamps for normal round coins. Making new metal stamps to fit what would be a temporary square shape was deemed unnecessary.

The nominal value of this unusual currency was as follows:

One Ruble: The weight of this single square coin was equal to that of a one-handed sword at 1.6 kg!

One Half Ruble: Logically this piece of metal weighed in at 0.8 kg of copper.

One Quarter Ruble: This weighed a far more modest 400 grams which is still heavier than the average smartphone.

One Grivna: This one weighed a somewhat sane 160 grams.

One Kopeck: There were 1 kopeck denominations of two types and 5 kopecks denominations of three types issued weighing 16.8 grams.

It is almost impossible to find board style coins out in the wild. The originals are very expensive and almost all are in private collections. Even newly made replicas are appreciated quite well.

The idea of these coins did not cause success among the population simply because of the inconvenience. Just imagine how an ordinary person would have to carry a few rubles with himself to go to the bazaar! Yes, these coins could be exchanged for a paper bill of exchange, but the common people did not trust anything made of pulp.

In December 1726, the administration of the mint in Yekaterinburg, by decree, stopped the production of square coins, and a large number of blanks for an ordinary round coin were made from ready-made coins. Then the plate coins were exchanged for normal round silver coins as the the metal crisis ended. This is one of the reason that so few exist today; they were overwhelmingly traded in for new convenient normal coins.

The short period of the quadratic coins’ existence and active exchange has contributed to the fact that it is a real miracle to find such money anywhere besides elite exchanges, but then again some lucky people are just plane lucky.