Russian Coins and Historical Medals

Catherine I, a silver medal, struck c. 1770, by J. G. Waechter, bust left, rev. legend in seven lines, small crown above, 39mm, 22.99g (Diakov 1657). Very fine though reverse spotted, very rare £240-£300

No. 54 in the portrait series of Russian Grand Dukes, Tsars and Tsarinas.

Diakov illustrates an example of the copper medal where the relief is shallower and there is no signature on the truncation. Confusion with the signature caused Forrer, who read it as G.W., to attribute the medal to Waechter's younger brother Georg Christian (BDM VI, 338). There is only a single contemporary medal of Catherine known, that for the accession to the throne, by Rastrelli