To the dedicated numismatist, possession of a rare coin gives the same pleasure be the metal platinum, gold, silver, copper, or nickel. In the field of Russian numismatics, it is the copper coins that have so far not been given the attention they so richly deserve. The copper story is quite as interesting and diverse as the gold and silver or the platinum, especially as they certainly must have provided the overwhelming part of the money in circulation for the ordinary Russian during the Czarist period 1700—1917. It is the aim of this catalogue to lend balance to the numismatic literature of this period of Russian history available to the Western numismatist.