View source for Polushka

{{Short description|Historical Russian coin equal to 1/4 kopeck}}
[[File:Russia, poludenga, 1535-1584, Ivan the Terrible (Novgorod).jpg|thumb|Silver polushka (poludenga) of [[Ivan the Terrible]], minted in [[Veliky Novgorod]] in 1535–1584. Weight 0.15 g.]]
[[File:1700 polushka obverse.jpg|thumb|Obverse of a rare 1700 polushka. The legend around the eagle reads "ЦРЬ ПЕТР АЛЕКСЕЕВИЧ" or Tsar Petr Alekseevich (Peter the Great)]]
[[File:1700 polushka reverse.jpg|thumb|Reverse of a 1700 polushka. The word polushka is on two lines and the old Cyrillic date is below "҂АΨ" The legend reads "ВСЕЯ РОСИИ САМОДЕРЖЕЦ" or ...autocrat of all Russia. Minted at the Naberezhny mint in Moscow.]]
[[File:1795 Polushka.jpg|thumb|1795 Polushka minted under Catherine II (Catherine the Great)]]

A '''polushka''' ({{langx|ru|полушка}}, "half [of a [[denga]]]") was a Russian coin with value equal to {{frac|4}} [[kopeck]] (100 kopecks = 1 [[rouble]]).

Production of polushkas as minted coins began in 1700 under [[Peter the Great]], though more primitive hammered wire money polushkas<ref>[http://metaldetectingworld.com/photogalary/wire_%20money/index.htm Wire Money Photo Gallery]</ref> had been produced for over 150 years before that. Mintage continued, off and on, until 1916, just before the [[Romanov dynasty]] was overthrown in 1917.

While coins minted in the 18th century invariably showed the denomination as ''polushka'', during parts of the 19th and early 20th centuries the denomination was shown as simply ''{{frac|4}} kopeck''.

==Minting dates==
* [[Peter the Great]] (1700–1716, 1718–1722)
* [[Anna of Russia]] (1730–1731, 1734–1740)
* [[Ivan VI of Russia]] (1741)
* [[Elizabeth Petrovna]] (1743–1751, 1754, 1757–1759)
* [[Catherine II of Russia]] (1766–1773, 1775, 1783–1796)
* [[Paul I of Russia]] (1797–1800)
* [[Alexander I of Russia]] (1803–1805, 1807–1808,1810)
* [[Nicholas I of Russia]] (1839–1846, 1849–1855)
* [[Alexander II of Russia]] (1855–1881)
* [[Alexander III of Russia]] (1881–1894)
* [[Nicholas II of Russia]] (1894–1900, 1909–1910, 1915–1916)

==See also==
{{Portal|Money
}}
*[[Glossary of Russian currency]]

==References==
<references />

{{Ruble}}

[[Category:Coins of Russia]]


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