In 2004, for the 280th anniversary, a commemorative token was minted again at the Mint, and once again it was used to showcase the finest achievements of minting craftsmen.
The token is made of chrome-plated brass. The insert is yellow on one side and white on the other. The token’s main theme is the 300th anniversary of Peter the Great’s monetary reform, celebrated in 2004. On the reverse of the insert is an image of the reverse side of a modern Russian kopeck, and on the obverse is the obverse image of a kopeck from Peter’s era with the inscription “Autocrat of All Russia.”
Around the circumference of the token itself, the inscription is engraved: “From the kopeck of Tsar Peter Alekseevich of 1704 to the kopeck of the Russian Federation of 2004.” In addition, there is microtext on the obverse. In Russian and English it reads: “280 years of the Saint Petersburg Mint.”
One of the technological achievements demonstrated by this token is that the insert is fixed not flush, but at an angle—i.e., rotated around the axial line—so that the edge of the inserted “kopeck” can be seen. In addition, the insert is set with a slight skew, i.e., rotated around the axial line, with the obverse and reverse turned in different directions. This was done deliberately, as a demonstration of the Mint’s technological capabilities. At the top of the obverse of the token there is a pseudo-hologram bearing the inscription “280 years.”