Kopeck

Reading notes

• The Nightingale's Benefit §2 twenty-kopeck piece

  A twenty-kopeck coin (dvugrivenny), the customary tip for a theater attendant who checked one's coat; the narrators note there was no such fee here since there were no attendants in the open-air "theater" of the grove.

• Two Letters §10 a tenth of a kopeck a point

  The kopeck, the minor Russian coin (one-hundredth of a rouble); a stake of a tenth of a kopeck a point marks this as trivial, purely social gambling.

• The Twenty-Ninth of June (the tale of a hunter who never hits his mark) §63 three-kopeck coin

  The kopeck is the minor Russian coin, one-hundredth of a rouble; a tiny coin flung up as an impromptu shooting target to break the men's sulk.

• A Confession §1 twenty kopecks

  The minor Russian coin, one-hundredth of a rouble; the cabman's windfall of a gold piece instead of a twenty-kopeck fare sets the story's opening image of undeserved, dizzying good fortune.

• The Rigmarole §70 copper penny and a half

  A trivial sum — a kopeck and a half — the old woman's payment for having the names read out, underscoring the pettiness of the whole muddle.

• Pictures from the Recent Past §32 twenty-kopeck piece

  A двугривенный ("two ten-kopeck piece") was a small silver coin, roughly a day laborer's modest tip -- the going rate, in this scene, for putting one's name to a fraudulent guarantee.

• Rogues Despite Themselves §7 kopeck

  The smallest unit of Russian currency, one-hundredth of a rouble; the boy Kolya is barred from the lotto table for lack of even this trivial stake.

• The Guardian §10 kopeck

  The smallest unit of pre-revolutionary Russian currency, one hundred to a rouble; the narrator's vow not to touch "a single kopeck" of the embezzled inheritance is his bargaining chip for the marriage.

• St. Peter's Day §5 twenty-kopeck coin

  The kopeck was the minor Russian coin, one-hundredth of a rouble; Bolva's marksmanship party trick is hitting a twenty-kopeck coin tossed into the air.

• To N. A. Leikin, 27 June 1883. Voskresensk. §7 7 kopecks

  The kopeck, one-hundredth of a rouble; postage on a letter was charged by weight, so Chekhov jokes that he is padding the envelope with a bit of verse to bring it exactly up to the 7-kopeck rate.

• Letter to a Reporter §9 kopeck

  A kopeck is one-hundredth of a rouble, the smallest common unit of everyday Russian currency -- "not one kopeck for me" is a stock complaint of being stiffed even a trifling sum.

• A Collection for Children §2 sixty-kopeck dinner

  The kopeck was the minor Russian coin, one-hundredth of a rouble; a sixty-kopeck dinner marks this as a modest, respectable tavern meal, not a splurge.

• In Moscow, on Trubnaya Square §1 goldfinches go for five kopecks

  The kopeck, one-hundredth of a ruble, was the everyday small coin of the market; a live goldfinch cost only a handful of them.

• The Fair §1 fifteen kopecks

  The kopeck, one-hundredth of a ruble, is the coin the whole story is priced in, from a joke house-sale to the fair's cheapest gallery seat.

• The Tongue Will Get You to Kiev §7 fifty kopecks

  A polutinnik, a fifty-kopeck (half-rouble) coin -- the going price for an ordinary hat, which the 2nd spectator contrasts with the expense of a proper top hat.