Horseman advancing right, holding a spear, no mintmark / Inscription in five lines "TSAR/ i KNZ/ VELIKIY/ IVAN" ("Ivan, Tsar and Grand Duke"). 10mm, 0.30 grams. Moscow mint. Griszin #59.

Nearly all coins Ivan issued as a Tsar were kopeks. A few small issues of dengas (1/2 kopeks) were also minted, but these are quite scarce. "DE" in Cyrillic under the horse stands for "Denga".

Ivan IV “the Terrible” (1530–1584) was the first ruler to crown himself Tsar of All Russia, reigning from 1547 until his death and transforming Muscovy into a centralized, autocratic state. Early in his reign he enacted legal, military, and administrative reforms that strengthened royal authority and expanded Russia’s territory through the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates, opening the Volga and Caspian regions. After the death of his wife Anastasia, Ivan’s rule grew increasingly violent and erratic, most infamously through the Oprichnina, a campaign of terror against the nobility that devastated much of Russia. His long reign ended in military setbacks, economic exhaustion, and dynastic instability, but it permanently reshaped Russia’s political culture, laying foundations for imperial expansion and absolute tsarist rule.