Spare change

Doing a bit of tidying up today I came across this coin. I'm not a collector of coins, although some have said that I do strive to hang on to them more than other people. I've had this one for over 30 years. I have vague memories of travelling with the family from Yorkshire down to Norfolk and stopping for a break in a town that had a coin and postcard collectors sale in progress. This coin was in a cheap odds and sods box and it caught my eye. I think I paid about 50p for it. Its an 1811 Russian Kopek and I just find it so evocative of a time and place. I can imagine it jingling about with other coins in the pocket of a soldier fighting Napoleon's forces only a year after it was minted or maybe 10 years later in the hands of Alexander Pushkin buying a round in a St Petersburg bar. Anyway it now sits in a house in Norfolk UK and if things get desperate and I've reached the stage where I've pawned my gold tooth it does look like it has quite a high copper content ....