
Russian archeologists have found an exceptionally rare 'beard kopek' - rutenspitz
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6095311/Priceless-300-year-old-coin-men-buy-avoid-Russian-Beard-Tax-Pskov.html
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black_puppydog
\- The wealthy had to fork out high sums but peasants paid one kopek - the
lowest coin of the realm.

wow, not only a beard tax, but a _progressive_ beard tax! :D

~~~
dsfyu404ed
You can only get slightly more money from a peasant than a stone so why bother
trying.

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M_Bakhtiari
>'Priceless' 300-year-old coin that men had to buy to avoid Peter the Great's
'Beard Tax'

How on earth does paying the tax to receive the token proving you have paid
your tax amount to "avoiding Peter the Great's 'Beard Tax'"?

Maybe modern-day tax dodgers should try this clever scheme too. Avoiding tax
by paying the tax they are trying to avoid.

~~~
jpatokal
Bad wording (surprise surprise, it's the Daily Mail), but they clearly mean
that if you wanted to avoid having your beard forcibly shaved off, you had to
pay the Beard Tax.

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xref
I highly recommend Robert Massie's book Peter the Great, a truly fantastic
read that goes in depth on the origin of the beard tax (modernization program)
and associated kopek.

~~~
xutopia
I'm not finding any good rationale for the beard tax. Does the book say why he
thought this would be a good idea?

~~~
orbital-decay
I haven't read the book, but one explanation is a power grab from the Church.
Prior to Peter's reforms, the beard was essential to orthodox christian
tradition and culture, walking around "barefaced" ("босое рыло") was
considered a sin. Forcing people to cut the beard was a strong indication of
his authoritarian ambitions, and a step to make Russia a more secular state
according to his vision of a modern country. The tax was extremely unpopular
and led to occasional riots and even suicides (as a form of protest
particularly popular among Old Believers half a century before Peter I during
Raskol), but in the end he succeeded in changing the culture - the ban was
partially lifted a century after that, but it was considered inappropriate to
wear a beard since then, unless you was a priest or an elderly person.

He did plenty of similar things, for example ordering the Boyars to cut their
long sleeves (a traditional status symbol of a feudal who doesn't need to
work) which was a thinly veiled message for them that the old power structure
was obsolete and new institutions were coming.

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dzdt
See
[https://journals.urfu.ru/index.php/QR/article/download/270/2...](https://journals.urfu.ru/index.php/QR/article/download/270/2372)
for a scholarly discussion of what is known of the history. It is reported the
15,903 copies of the original 1698/9 beard tax token were ordered, but unclear
if that number were actually produced. Previously only one example was known.
Little documentary evidence remains to suggest the beard tax was imposed prior
to 1705. The later 1705 and 1725 versions of the beard tax token are rare, but
numerous examples exist. And records show the rule was promulgated and tax
collected starting in 1705.

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atemerev
It is priceless indeed. I am a Russian, and the picture of only other coin
like this in existence was in all of our history textbooks.

~~~
yostrovs
There is an endless amount of old Roman coin. You can buy bags of them. Why
are these so rare?

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nickthemagicman
Pretty funny typo in the header.

Dubbed the 'beard kopek, the coin was part of Peter the Great's 1987 'beard
tax'.

Was there also a record player and suspender tax?

~~~
jake-low
What typo? “Beard tax” is indeed correct; it was a tax on those who wore
facial hair, as part of Peter the Great’s plan to ‘westernize’ Russia.

Edit: I see now; it’s the year (1987). D’oh!

~~~
mirimir
I wonder how they got from ~1697 to 1987.

~~~
madaxe_again
Because it’s the Daily Mail, and I wouldn’t believe _anything_ you see in it.
They run articles on whether wife-swapping yetis are parking their UFOs
properly, and if not, why not. They make the National Enquirer look deadly
serious.

Here are some better resources on the topic.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard_tax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard_tax)

[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-tsar-peter-
gre...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-tsar-peter-great-
established-beard-tax-180964693/)

[https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-beard-tax-is-
being-p...](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-beard-tax-is-being-
proposed-in-england-and-its-not-the-first)

~~~
gdfasfklshg4
> Because it’s the Daily Mail, and I wouldn’t believe anything you see in it.
> They run articles on whether wife-swapping yetis are parking their UFOs
> properly, and if not, why not. They make the National Enquirer look deadly
> serious.

I am not a fan of the Daily Mail. Having said that, can you provide a
reference for your claim that they run articles "on whether wife-swapping
yetis are parking their UFOs properly, and if not, why not."?

~~~
empath75
[https://www.google.com/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...](https://www.google.com/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6035613/amp/Discovery-
Channel-treasure-hunter-claims-hes-evidence-extra-terrestrial-visit.html)

Not exactly but...

