imperial

imperial

1. of or relating to an empire, emperor, or empress

2. (esp of products and commodities) of a superior size or quality

3. (of weights, measures, etc.) conforming to standards or definitions legally established in Britain

4. (formerly) a Russian gold coin originally worth ten roubles

5. Architect a dome that has a point at the top

6. a member of an imperial family, esp an emperor or empress

7. a red deer having antlers with fourteen points

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Imperial

 

a Russian gold coin. The imperial was minted from 1755 with a denominational value of 10 rubles and was equal to 10 silver rubles. The coin contained 11.61 grams of gold. During the monetary reform of 1895–97 and the placing of gold currency into circulation, the imperialy of the old weight were replaced by those with a denominational value of 15 rubles (accordingly, the denomination of the gold half-imperial was changed from 5 rubles to 7 rubles 50 kopeks). The new gold coins minted after the reform, with denominations of 10 and 5 rubles respectively, constituted two-thirds and one-third of an imperial.

REFERENCE

Spasskii, I. G. Russkaia monetnaia sistema. Leningrad, 1970. Pages 213–16.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.