This silver medal seems to have been issued to commemorate the coronation of Catherine Alexeyevna(1684-1727), the wife of the first Russian emperor Peter the Great, as his empress. The ceremony was held in the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin in May 1724. On 28 January 1725 Peter died at the age of only 52 and Catherine succeeded him on the throne as empress in her own right.One side of the medal bears a depiction of Emperor Peter I crowned with a laurel wreath. He is wearing richly decorated armour and over it a mantle fastened at the chest with a clasp. A two-line inscription reads: "Peter Alexeyevich, by the grace of God, Tsar and Autocrat of all Great, Little and White Russia". On the other side there is Empress Catherine, again crowned with a laurel wreath. She has a diadem in her hair and is wearing a low-cut dress and mantle together with the chain and badge of the Order of St Andrew the First-Called. The circular Latin inscription declares her to be "Catherine Alexeyevna, Empress of Russia, Mother of the Nation".