Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1571. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $16000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

RUSSIA, Tsars of Russia. Petr III Fyodorovitch. 1762. AR Rouble (23.84 g, 12h). Sankt-Peterburg (St. Petersburg) mint; Nazar Kutuzov, mintmaster. Dated 1762. ΠETPЪ • III • Б • M • IMП • ICAMOДEPЖ • BCEPOC, C П Б in exergue, bareheaded, draped, and armored bust right / MOHETA • P(OУ)БЛЬ • 17 59, crowned double-headed imperial eagle facing with wings displayed, holding scepter and orb; coat-of-arms of Moskva framed by Order of St. Andrei Первозванного (the First Called) on breast; above, imperial crown; н-к flanking tail. On edge: grained right. Bitkin 11; Severin 1882A; Uzdenikov 924 var. (• at end of obv. legend). NGC photo graded AU 53, choice and virtually uncirculated with moderate original tone.

Purchased from M. L. Teller, October 1990.

The son of Anna Ioannova, the daughter of Petr I and Ekaterina I, Petr III was adopted by Yelizaveta and following her death became Tsar. He was a political disaster and following a very short reign, he was assassinated by Alexei Orlov, the favorite of Sophie, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, who then became Ekaterina II (“the Great”).