Medal of 12 Ducat weight. GOLD. 42.26 gm. Signed by I.S. On the Coronation of Peter II, 1728.
Diakov – unlisted, Sm --, Sokolov--. Laureate and cuirassed peruked bust right, signed below .I.S. (the “S” retrograde); ПETPЪ*II *IMПEPATOPЪ И CAMOДEPЖEЦЪ*BCEPOCICKИ / Imperial regalia resting on a pillow set on a pedestal, radiant All-Seeing Eye above; (Seal of Solomon) ωTЪ TEБЯ* CTωБωЮ* И KЪCΛABE TBωEИ*; KOPOH. BMOCK 1728 in ex. Exceedingly rare, and apparently unique; we were not able to trace any other example of this medal nor any other medal – in any metal -- signed by this engraver. Some light pinscratches and contact marks. Extremely fine

Ex “Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Collection Sale”, Hess, Luzern, October 25, 1939, lot 102 (43 mm, 41.3g) Ex “The Important Collection of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia”, Christie’s, London, July 3, 1950, lot 313 -no illustration (1.33 ozs).

Peter II was both blessed and cursed by his familial background. His mother Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg died when he was 10 days old, and his father, the Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, accused of treason by his grandfather Peter the Great, died in prison in 1718. Orphaned at age 3, along with his four-year-old sister, Peter would be swept into the shadows. Peter the Great disliked the boy’s father and the boy’s grandmother, the emperor’s first wife; and had little interest in the boy’s upbringing or education. While during the reign of Catherine I, young Peter was ignored. Her death, however, brought the only male-line grandson of Peter the Great to the fore. The majority of the nation and three-quarters of the nobility supported him; while his maternal uncle the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI was a vocal champion. Unfortunately the young emperor was a target for those who sought to control him and gain influence from him -- first Menshikov, then the Dulgorukovs. The latter would place Peter onto the path of a dissolute, aimless life of entertainment and distraction. Even that was cut short. The 14-year old emperor would take ill with smallpox in December 1729 and die a month later.