Efimok 1655, overstruck on a Lowenthaler 1606, the Netherlands, the town of Overijssel, silver 26.

76g. Condition XF. Spassky№247-249. Very rare, since the Russian Government bought lowenthalers very reluctantly at the approximate price of 38 kopecks (the state purchasing price of Lubeck thalers was 50 kopecks). Moreover, they weren"t called efimki at all and were most likely to have appeared by the Mint"s mistake, they had a special name - "levok". Furthermore, this specimen was overstruck on a rather early thaler. See Spassky I.G. Thalers in Russian Currency 1654-1659, Efimki Summary Catalog, published by the State Hermitage Museum Publishing House, Leningrad, 1960. At present only a few examples of these coins are known. This coin was sold at the Sotheby"s Auction, 24-25 April 1997 (lot №13), earlier it was put up for the Roman Mitschke Auction, 26 February 1989.