History of money part 1. money of ancient Russia
In money business and money circulation, everything is interconnected. The study of all data of the coins goes along the way with the study of images and inscriptions on them, with the analysis of the names of the coins. Reconstruction of the ancient monetary and monetary systems of all, revealing monetary reforms are impossible without analyzing the treasures of money. Let's consider a few moments from the history of money and coins in Russia.
In Russia, as elsewhere, at first, livestock or animal skins, for example, squirrels, sables, martens and other "soft junk", as furs were called then, served as money for exchange. Russian furs - warm, soft, beautiful - attracted merchants to Russia from both the East and the West at all times.
Russ and cowrie shells were familiar. They were brought to us by overseas merchants who traded with Novgorod and Pskov. And then the Novgorodians themselves spread kauri throughout the Russian land up to Siberia. In Siberia, cowrie shells were used as money until the 19th century. There, the cowrie was called the "snake head" ...
As elsewhere, with the development of trade in Russia, the first metal money appeared. True, at first these were large silver Arab dirhams. We called them kuns. Numismatists derive this word from the Latin cunas, which means forged, made of metal.
When scientists began to figure out the monetary and weight system of Ancient Russia, they encountered difficulties that at first seemed insurmountable. First of all, the diversity of the names of the coins was amazing. Kuna? Well, of course, this is a marten, the skin of a marten, which was very highly valued, especially in the East.
What is a nogata? Maybe it's a part of the skin, a leg, a paw of an animal? The small monetary unit - veksha, or veveritsa, was declared the skin of a squirrel. The juxtaposition of the coon with the marten fur seemed very apt. In a number of Slavic languages, kuna also means marten. But some scientists still believed that coons and legs are metal money.
In ancient times, Kuna was called not only the dirham, but also the Roman denarius, and the denarius of other European states, and even their own Russian silver coin. This means that money was called so in general. Then the love of money and the love of money meant the same thing.
Nogata (from the Arabic "nagd" - good, perfect), rezana (part of the cut kuna). 25 kunas were hryvnia kunas. What is hryvnia?
In the ancient Slavic language, this was the name of the neck, the scruff of the neck. Then a neck ornament - a necklace - was also called a hryvnia. When coins appeared, they began to make a necklace from them. It took 25 kn for each. Hence it went: hryvnia kun, hryvnia of silver. Then the hryvnia began to be called silver bars.
Their coins in Russia began to be minted from the end of the 10th century. They were goldsmiths and silver coins. They depicted the Grand Duke of Kiev and the trident - the patrimonial mark of the princes of Rurikovich, it is also the coat of arms of Kievan Rus.
Numismatists learned about these coins by examining the finds in the treasures of the 9th-12th centuries. This made it possible to restore the picture of monetary circulation in Ancient Russia. And before that, it was believed that there was no money of its own in Russia. Another thing is that goldsmiths and silver coins disappeared from circulation during the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols. Because at the same time trade itself stalled.
At this time, cowrie shells were used for small calculations, and for large ones - heavy silver ingots - grivnas. In Kiev, hryvnias were hexagonal, in Novgorod - in the form of bars. Their weight was about 200 grams. Over time, the Novgorod hryvnia began to be called rubles. At the same time, fifty rubles appeared - half a ruble.
How were they made - rubles and fifty dollars? .. The master melted silver in a hot oven and then poured it into molds. I poured it with a special spoon - a lacquer. One silver spout - one casting. Therefore, the weight of rubles and half a ton was kept fairly accurately. Gradually, the Novgorod rubles spread throughout all Russian principalities.
The first Moscow coins.
The first Moscow coins began to be minted under the Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. So it began to be called after the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo over the Horde Khan Mamai. However, on the money of Dmitry Donskoy, along with his name and the image of a horseman with a saber and a battle ax, the name and title of Khan Tokhtamysh was minted, because Russia so far remained dependent on the Horde.
Dmitry Donskoy's silver coin was called denga (no soft sign). In Tatar it means "voiced". Denga was minted from silver wire, which was cut into pieces of the same size and weight, less than one gram. These pieces were flattened, then the minter hit the blank with a coin and, please, the coin is ready with all the necessary inscriptions and images.
These coins looked like large fish scales. Gradually, a rider with a saber and an ax on Moscow coins gave way to a rider with a spear. Under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, coins began to be called pennies for this.
The introduction of kopecks was preceded by such a story ... The fact is that after Dmitry Donskoy, almost all Russian princes began to mint coins - both great and specific: Tver, Ryazan, Pronsk, Utlitsk, Mozhaisk. The names of local princes were written on these coins. And on the coins of Rostov the Great they wrote the names of four princes at once - one of Moscow and three local. The Novgorod coins also had their own character.
Such inconsistency and variegation in appearance and the weight of the coins made it difficult to trade. Therefore, at the beginning of the 16th century, under the five-year-old Ivan the Terrible, they were canceled. And a penny appeared on the scene - a nationwide coin. These coins were minted at three monetary yards - in Moscow, Pskov and Veliky Novgorod.
Probably, at the same time the saying “a penny saves the ruble” appeared, this reflected its weight. After all, a hundred kopecks of Ivan the Terrible made up a ruble, 50 - a half, 10 - a hryvnia, 3 - an altyn ... Such Russian coins remained until the end of the 17th century, until the time of Tsar Peter I.
The beginning of minting coins in Russia, in the modern sense of the word, dates back to the end of the 10th - the beginning of the 11th centuries. Silver and gold Russian coins appeared during the reign of Vladimir the Great. Before that, either dirhams brought by merchants from the East, or Byzantine coins were used for mutual settlements. Natural exchange could also take place. In addition, written sources mention several payment units, about most of which the researchers did not come to a consensus.
Payment units of pre-Vladimir Russia
The most famous means of payment for this period is the hryvnia. This name implied a massive silver jewelry worn around the neck. In payment terms, the hryvnia was equal to a 200 g silver bar and was exchanged for it.
Also in written sources such names as grivna kun, kun, nogata, cut, viveritsa (veksha) are mentioned. Researchers have not agreed on what these words mean. Kuna is sometimes identified with the Arab dirham, Western European denarius, or other silver coins. Sometimes it is associated with payments for goods with fur. Also correlated with the name of the taxes that existed in those days and were called "marten". But one way or another, the hryvnia kuna is the sum of 25 kunas.
Another unit of account was the nogat, which is correlated either with a separate group of Arab dirhams, or with the calculations of leather and furs. The hryvnia kun was split into 20 legs if necessary. The rezana was 1/2 kuna, and one of the possible physical expressions of this payment unit could well be the trimmings of Arab dirhams found in ancient Russian hoards.
The smallest denomination was called veksha or wyveritsa (squirrel) and was 1/6 kuna or, according to other sources, 1/100 hryvnia. It is quite possible that the ancient system of payments with fur simply left an imprint in the form of names on coins introduced into circulation by merchants.
The first Russian coins
The first coins, which began to be minted at the court of Vladimir the Great, were made of gold and silver and were called gold and silver coins, respectively. The obverse of the coin depicted the Grand Duke of Kiev, on the reverse - a trident, the prince's coat of arms. The same coins were minted by the son of Vladimir the Great, Yaroslav the Wise, and Yaroslav's cousin, Svyatoslav Turovsky. The obverse of the Yaroslavov coins depicted the patron saint of the prince - Yuri the Shining.
It is interesting to note that Russian coins with portraits of Kiev princes and a trident were at that time unique for Europe. Western European monetary units of that time were copies of Roman coins.
The coinless period and the emergence of the ruble
After the attack of the Mongol Tatars, a period of fragmentation began. Kiev fell, and the minting of common coins in Russia ceased. They gradually entered the circulation different shapes bars of precious metals. Among them, a single-type rectangular silver ingot with a seam-scar and "chopped off" ends began to stand out, which was named the ruble. One ruble was equal to ten hryvnia kunas. The ruble was divided into smaller payment units by cutting it into pieces, which only supported its name, firmly introducing the word into everyday life.
One tenth of it was called a dime. The ruble, divided in half, was called a half, and into four parts - a quarter. Also, small payment units were made from the ruble - money. Moreover, in Moscow they received 200 money from the ruble, and in Novogorod - 216.
Return of the minted coin
Russian coins began to be minted again in the second half of the 14th century. The “specific” period in Russian numismatics begins in the 1380s and is characterized by the appearance of coins minted in individual specific principalities. During this period, local monetary systems began to emerge, which subsequently formed a single one.
For the first time, personalized silver money was made in the Grand Duchy of Moscow during the reign of Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy. Ancient Russian coins of the Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod principalities date back to almost the same time. At the very beginning of the 15th century. the principality of Tverskoe began to mint its coin, and within 20 years Pskov and Veliky Novgorod caught up with it. Until the end of the first half of the 15th century. up to 50 appanage rulers began to issue their own coins.
The set of coins was small: silver money and half money. Novgorod and Pskov minted money and a quarter of the money. In some places (for example, in the Moscow and Tver principalities) there was also a copper coin of the lowest denomination - a pool.
In Moscow, at the end of the 14th century, the counting system was as follows: the ruble (ingot) was divided into two half rubles, 10 hryvnias or 33 1/3 altyns. At the same time, poltina, dime and altyn did not have a monetary expression, they were units of account. But money and half-money were minted Russian coins, and their value, in comparison with bullion, was as follows: one ruble was equal to 200 minted money or 400 half-money. There is no data on the quantitative ratio of the copper pool to silver coins.
Royal period of numismatics
From 1533 to the end of the 17th century. specific monetary systems merged, forming one, single for the Russian state.
During the reign of the mother of Ivan the Terrible - Elena Glinskaya - strict rules for minting coins were established. Silver money was produced in small and large weights. Small coins carried the image of a horseman with a sword and were called sword coins. On large silver money, a horseman-spearman was depicted, they were called spear money. The modern penny originates from the latter. The smallest coin was called a half. It was equal to a quarter of a penny or half money.
Until the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich, Russian coins did not bear the designation of the year of issue. This king was the first to have a date stamped on a penny.
Old Russian coins in history and numismatics
Numismatics is an auxiliary historical discipline. Money - important element any society. They bear the imprint of his political, ideological structure, religious attitudes and the historical processes taking place in him. Plus, money reflects many sides. public life, which fell out of sight of other documentary evidence of the past time.
Thus, for example, the transition to a standardized monetary system of the tsarist period from the variety of coins of the XIV-XVI centuries. reflects the completion of a long process of centralization of disparate principalities.
In addition to being important for historical science, numismatics is also one of the types of collecting. Peter I, together with his associate, Alexander Menshikov, is called the first coin collector in Russia.
Russian coins value
There are many catalogs listing the currently known Russian coins and their value. However, the price of a particular coin also depends on its safety and general condition.
For example, if the price of a silversmith of Prince Vladimir in good enough condition can be more than $ 250, then a badly damaged coin without a few fragments costs much less. That is why the question of how much Russian antiquity coins are worth is most reasonable to solve in each specific case by the method of appropriate examination, because we are talking about archaeological value.
In money business and money circulation, everything is interconnected. The study of all data of the coins goes along the way with the study of images and inscriptions on them, with the analysis of the names of the coins. Reconstruction of the ancient monetary and monetary systems of all, revealing monetary reforms are impossible without analyzing the treasures of money. Let's consider a few moments from the history of money and coins in Russia.
In Russia, as elsewhere, at first, livestock or animal skins, for example, squirrels, sables, martens and other "soft junk", as furs were called then, served as money for exchange. Russian furs - warm, soft, beautiful - attracted merchants to Russia from both the East and the West at all times.
Russ and cowrie shells were familiar. They were brought to us by overseas merchants who traded with Novgorod and Pskov. And then the Novgorodians themselves spread kauri throughout the Russian land up to Siberia. In Siberia, cowrie shells were used as money until the 19th century. There, the cowrie was called the "snake head" ...
Before the appearance of their coins, Roman denarii, Arab dirhams, and Byzantine solidi were in circulation in Russia. In addition, it was possible to pay off the seller with fur. From all these things, the first Russian coins arose.
As elsewhere, with the development of trade in Russia, the first metal money appeared. True, at first these were large silver Arab dirhams. We called them kuns. Numismatists derive this word from the Latin cunas, which means forged, made of metal.
When scientists began to figure out the monetary and weight system of Ancient Russia, they encountered difficulties that at first seemed insurmountable. First of all, the diversity of the names of the coins was amazing. Kuna? Well, of course, this is a marten, the skin of a marten, which was very highly valued, especially in the East.
What is a nogata? Maybe it's a part of the skin, a leg, a paw of an animal? The small monetary unit - veksha, or veveritsa, was declared the skin of a squirrel. The juxtaposition of the coon with the marten fur seemed very apt. In a number of Slavic languages, kuna also means marten. But some scientists still believed that coons and legs are metal money.
In ancient times, Kuna was called not only the dirham, but also the Roman denarius, and the denarius of other European states, and even their own Russian silver coin. This means that money was called so in general. Then the love of money and the love of money meant the same thing.
Nogata (from the Arabic "nagd" - good, perfect), rezana (part of the cut kuna). 25 kunas were hryvnia kunas. What is hryvnia?
In the ancient Slavic language, this was the name of the neck, the scruff of the neck. Then a neck ornament - a necklace - was also called a hryvnia. When coins appeared, they began to make a necklace from them. It took 25 kn for each. Hence it went: hryvnia kun, hryvnia of silver. Then the hryvnia began to be called silver bars.
Their coins in Russia began to be minted from the end of the 10th century. They were goldsmiths and silver coins. They depicted the Grand Duke of Kiev and the trident - the patrimonial mark of the princes of Rurikovich, it is also the coat of arms of Kievan Rus.
Numismatists learned about these coins by examining the finds in the treasures of the 9th-12th centuries. This made it possible to restore the picture of monetary circulation in Ancient Russia. And before that, it was believed that there was no money of its own in Russia. Another thing is that goldsmiths and silver coins disappeared from circulation during the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols. Because at the same time trade itself stalled.
At this time, cowrie shells were used for small calculations, and for large ones - heavy silver ingots - grivnas. In Kiev, hryvnias were hexagonal, in Novgorod - in the form of bars. Their weight was about 200 grams. Over time, the Novgorod hryvnia began to be called rubles. At the same time, fifty rubles appeared - half a ruble.
How were they made - rubles and fifty dollars? .. The master melted silver in a hot oven and then poured it into molds. I poured it with a special spoon - a lacquer. One silver spout - one casting. Therefore, the weight of rubles and half a ton was kept fairly accurately. Gradually, the Novgorod rubles spread throughout all Russian principalities.
Serebryanik
The first coin minted in Russia was called a silversmith. Even before the baptism of Russia, during the reign of Prince Vladimir, it was cast from silver of Arab dirhams, in which an acute deficit began to be felt in Russia. Moreover, there were two designs of silversmiths. At first, they copied the image of the Byzantine coins of the solidus: on front side the prince was depicted sitting on the throne, and on the reverse - Pantokrator, i.e. Jesus Christ. Soon the silver money underwent a redesign: instead of the face of Christ, the Rurik family mark - a trident began to be minted on the coins, and a legend was placed around the prince's portrait: “Vladimir is on the table - and this is his silver coin” (“Vladimir is on the throne, and this is his money”).
Zlatnik
Along with the silversmith, Prince Vladimir also minted similar gold coins - gold coins or zolotniks. They were also made in the manner of the Byzantine solidi and weighed about four grams. Despite the fact that there were very few of them in number - a little more than a dozen goldsmiths have survived to this day - their name has firmly stuck in folk sayings and proverbs: the spool is small, but weighty. The spool is small, but they weigh gold, the camel is big, and they carry water. Not a share in pounds, a share by spools. Trouble comes in poods, and goes away with spool valves.
Hryvnia
At the turn of the 9th - 10th centuries, a completely domestic monetary unit appeared in Russia - the hryvnia. The first hryvnia were weighty ingots of silver and gold, which were more a weight standard than money - they could measure the weight of the precious metal. Kiev hryvnias weighed about 160 grams and resembled a hexagonal ingot in shape, while Novgorod hryvnias were a long bar weighing about 200 grams. Moreover, the hryvnia was also in use among the Tatars - on the territory of the Volga region there was a well-known "Tatar hryvnia" made in the shape of a boat. The hryvnia got its name from women's jewelry - a gold bracelet or hoop, which was worn around the neck - the scruff of the neck or mane.
Veksha
The equivalent of a modern penny in ancient Russia was the Veksha. Sometimes it was called a squirrel or a bever. There is a version that, along with the silver coin, there was a tanned winter squirrel skin in circulation, which was its equivalent. There are still controversies around famous phrase chronicler that the Khazars took as tribute from the glades, northerners and Vyatichi: a coin or a squirrel "from the smoke" (at home). To save up for a hryvnia, an ancient Russian person would need 150 centuries.
Kuna
In the Russian lands, there was also an eastern dirham. He, and also the European denarius, which was also popular, was called kuna in Russia. There is a version that originally the kuna was the skin of a marten, squirrel or fox with a princely brand. But there are other versions associated with the foreign-language origin of the name kuna. For example, among many other peoples who had a Roman denarius in circulation, there is a name consonant with the Russian kuna for a coin, for example, the English coin.
Rezan
The problem of accurate calculation in Russia was solved in its own way. For example, they cut the skin of a marten or other fur-bearing animal, thereby adjusting a piece of fur to a particular value. Such pieces were called cuttings. And since the fur skin and the Arabian dirham were equivalent, the coin was also divided into parts. To this day, halves and even quarters of dirhams are found in ancient Russian hoards, because the Arab coin was too large for small trade transactions.
Nogata
Another small coin was a nogata - it cost about one-twentieth of a hryvnia. Its name is usually associated with the Estonian nahat - fur. In all likelihood, the nogata was also originally a fur skin of some animal. It is noteworthy that in the presence of all kinds of small money, they tried to associate each thing with their own money. In "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", for example, it is said that if Vsevolod were on the throne, then the slave would be the price "for the leg", and the slave - "for the cut."
The first Moscow coins.
The first Moscow coins began to be minted under the Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. So it began to be called after the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo over the Horde Khan Mamai. However, on the money of Dmitry Donskoy, along with his name and the image of a horseman with a saber and a battle ax, the name and title of Khan Tokhtamysh was minted, because Russia so far remained dependent on the Horde. Dmitry Donskoy's silver coin was called denga (no soft sign). In Tatar it means "voiced". Denga was minted from silver wire, which was cut into pieces of the same size and weight, less than one gram. These pieces were flattened, then the minter hit the blank with a minting and, please, the coin is ready with all the necessary inscriptions and images. Such coins looked like large fish scales. Gradually, a rider with a saber and an ax on Moscow coins gave way to a rider with a spear. Under Tsar Ivan the Terrible, coins began to be called pennies for this.
The introduction of kopecks was preceded by such a story ... The fact is that after Dmitry Donskoy, almost all Russian princes began to mint coins - both great and specific: Tver, Ryazan, Pronsk, Utlitsk, Mozhaisk. The names of local princes were written on these coins. And on the coins of Rostov the Great they wrote the names of four princes at once - one of Moscow and three local. The Novgorod coins also had their own character.
Such inconsistency and variegation in appearance and the weight of the coins made it difficult to trade. Therefore, at the beginning of the 16th century, under the five-year-old Ivan the Terrible, they were canceled. And a penny appeared on the scene - a nationwide coin. These coins were minted at three monetary yards - in Moscow, Pskov and Veliky Novgorod.
Probably, at the same time the saying “a penny saves the ruble” appeared, this reflected its weight. After all, a hundred kopecks of Ivan the Terrible made up a ruble, 50 - a half, 10 - a hryvnia, 3 - an altyn ... Such Russian coins remained until the end of the 17th century, until the time of Tsar Peter I.
Money of Ancient Russia: dirhams, coons, nogats, hryvnias
Money in ancient Russia was generally called "kuns". This word clearly indicates that once the usual measure of value was furs, and mainly kunya. Initially, valuable furs were used for exchange, of course; but the commercial need for smaller and exchangeable units forced the resort to crushing the fur; from here came the so-called. "cuts" (i.e., lengths); and "legs" (legs). At a later time, we also meet "polushki" and "muzzles", which in the same way passed into the name of metal units. From such parts of fur, the transition to leather money was not far off, i.e. scraps of leather with princely marks. In the middle of the 13th century, the French monk Rubrukvis noticed that the Russians used small pieces of leather with colored marks instead of coins. But such money, if it existed, did not have a ubiquitous circulation in Russia. Only a hard-earned coin could have such an appeal. The latter was obtained, like any other commodity, by trade with foreigners. Especially a large number of it was delivered from the east from Muslim countries. (However, perhaps this Arab silver money served more for neck and head adornments than for the needs of trade.) The "hryvnia" served as a monetary metal unit throughout Russia. Judging by the name, some justly guess that this unit originated precisely from a metal neck hoop, which had a more or less definite weight; so that the hryvnia began to denote both the weight and the coin, i.e. ingot of the same weight. Not only the shape of this ingot, but also its dignity and weight, and, consequently, its value varied in different regions of Russia. Moreover, the hryvnia of silver was also different from the hryvnia of the kun. The second was half the size of the first, but also denoted metal money; it, in fact, was the current coin. The Novgorod hryvnia kun weighed half a pound of silver, or 48 zolotniks, the Smolensk hryvnia - a quarter of a pound, and the Kiev hryvnia - a third. The hryvnia kun contained 20 legs, or 25 kunas, or 50 cuttings.
Minting small coins, gold and silver, began in Russia on the Byzantine model, after the adoption of Christianity. Although it was not numerous, its existence is confirmed by the finds of a number of such coins (especially the Nezhinsky treasure, found in 1852 and containing up to two hundred "pieces of silver", as the chronicle calls them). On their obverse there was usually an image of the sovereign sitting on the throne in full dress, with the inscription "Vladimir" or "Yaroslav" or "Svyatopolk", etc .; on the reverse, we find some kind of sign (probably the top of a scepter) with an inscription around: "And behold, his silver" or "gold".
The question of the ancient Russian monetary system, with an abundance of numismatists and numismatic collections, has a significant literature in our country. I will name the following works: Kruga "Critical Research on Ancient Russian Coins". SPb. 1807. Kazan "Research on the ancient Russian monetary system" (Western Archeol. General III). Kachenovsky "On leather money" (posthumous edition. M. 1849). Pogodin "Research and Lectures". IV. ch. 7. Voloshinsky "Description of ancient Russian coins found near Nizhyn". Kiev. 1853. Belyaeva "Were there coins in Russia before the XIV century?" (Zap. Archeol. General V. He resolves the issue positively). His "On the relationship of the hryvnia of the XII century to the ruble of the XVI century" (Times. Ob. I. and Others. XXIII). Zabolotsky "On values in ancient Russia". SPb. 1854. Kunik "On the Russian-Byzantine coins of Yaroslav I". SPb. 1860. Letters to him on the same subject from Bartholomew and c. Uvarov (in Izvestia Archeol. Gen. Vol. II and IV). Prozorovsky "On the coins of St. Vladimir". Proceedings of IV Archeol. Congress. T. I. Kazan 1884. His "Coin and weight in Russia until the end of the XVIII century" (Western Archeol. Ob. XII. 1865). The careful work of the latter perfectly clarified the system and value of the metal coin of Ancient Russia. Review of this essay by Academician Bychkov in the ninth awarding of awards gr. Uvarova. SPb. 1867. The same Prozorovsky "Ancient Greco-Roman measures and their relationship to the Russians" (Izv. Archeol. Ob. IX. 1880). and "On kunny values" (Collection of the Archeological Institute. IV. St. Petersburg. 1880). Next: prof. Usova "On ancient Russian money according to Russian truth" (Antiquities Moscow. Archeol. Ob. IX. 1883). Gr. II Tolstoy "Pre-Petr. Numismatics". Issue 1st. "Coins of V. Novgorod" (St. Petersburg, 1883). Issue 2nd. "Pskov Coins" (St. Petersburg, 1886). Petrov "Coins of the century Prince of Kiev Izyaslav Yaroslavich" (Proceedings of the IX Archeological Congress. T. I. 1895).
Regarding the eastern, or Muslim, coins of the 7th - 11th centuries, in the multitude of found in Russia, as well as about its ancient trade relations with the East, the most detailed work belongs to PS Savelyev "Muhammadan numismatics". SPb. 1846. See also Pogodin "On Russian trade in the specific period". "Kievlyanin". III. M. 1850.
In the old days, Slavic women wore a necklace made of precious metal - hryvnia ("mane" - neck) around their necks. Jewelry has always been a hot commodity. A piece of silver of a certain weight was given for a hryvnia. This weight was called the hryvnia. It was equal to 0.5 pounds (200 g).In the VIII - IX centuries. in Russia, dirhams appear - large silver coins with Arabic inscriptions. Dirhams were minted in Arab Caliphate, and from there Arab merchants brought them to the territory of Kievan Rus. Here the dirhem received a Russian name: they began to call it kuna or nogaty, half of the kuna - cut. 25 kunas were hryvnia kunas. It is known that kun grivnas were split into smaller units: 20 nogat, 25 kuna, 50 rezan. The smallest monetary unit was the veksha. One veksha was equal to 1/6 of a kuna.
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Western European coins, which were called in the same way as the Roman coins once, - denarii, are beginning to be imported into Russia. On these thin silver coins with primitive images of rulers, the Russian names of the coins were transferred - kuns or cut.
The first Russian coins
At the end of the X century. in Kievan Rus, minting of its own coins from gold and
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Coinless period
After fragmentation in the XII century, the Mongol-Tatars attacked Russia. In the hoards of these centuries, ingots of precious metals of various shapes are found. But a study of history shows that ingots served as money before the advent of coins, and here coins were circulating for centuries - and suddenly ingots! Incredible! What turned back the development of the monetary form in Russia? It turns out that by that time the lands united into Kievan Rus had again disintegrated into separate principalities. The minting of a single coin for the whole country has ceased. People hid the coins that were in use earlier. And just then the import of denarii stopped. So in Russia there were no coins, they were replaced by ingots. Again, as before, pieces of silver became money. Only now they had a certain shape and weight. This time is called the coinless period.
Shattered period coins
The first Russian ruble is an elongated bar of silver weighing approximately 200 grams, roughly chopped off at the ends. He was born in the XIII century. At that time, the ruble was equal to 10 hryvnia kunas. This is where the Russian decimal monetary system came from, which still exists today: 1 ruble = 10 hryvnias; 1 dime = 10 kopecks.
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Coins of the Russian state
Under Ivan III, Russia became a single state. Now every prince could not mint his own coins on his own. At the head of the state was the monarch, only he had the right to do so.
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Gradually, ruble bars disappeared from circulation. Money in Russia was counted in rubles, but the ruble did not exist as a coin; the ruble remained only a conventional counting unit. There were not enough coins, there was a "money hunger" in the country. Small coins were especially needed. The kopeck at that time was too large in value, and instead of exchanging it, it was cut into two or three parts. Each part walked independently. Until the beginning of the 17th century, Russia did not know gold coins. The zlatniks of Vladimir were not money in the full sense of the word. At the beginning of the 17th century, Vasily Shuisky reigned in Russia. He did not sit on the throne for a long time, did not glorify himself in any way, but managed to issue the first Russian gold coins: dimes and dimes.
To the topImperial Russia coins
In March 1704, by order of Peter I, for the first time in Russia, they began to make silver ruble coins. At the same time, they released fifty kopecks, half a fifty kopecks, ten kopecks, a penny with the inscription "10 money" and an altyn.
The name "altyn" is Tatar. "Alty" means six. The ancient altyn was equal to 6 dengas, the Petrovsky altyn - 3 kopecks. Silver is many times more expensive than copper. For a copper coin to be of the same value as a silver one, it must be made very large and heavy. Since there was a shortage of silver in Russia, Catherine I decided to make just such copper money. It was calculated that the ruble coin should have a weight of 1.6 kilograms.
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In addition to the ruble, they released fifty dollars, half dollars and hryvnias. They all had the same shape and were made at the Yekaterinburg Mint. This money did not last long. They were too uncomfortable.
Under Elizaveta Petrovna, a new gold coin of 10 rubles was issued. She was called the imperial in accordance with the imperial title of the queen. There was also a semi-imperial - a 5-ruble coin.
Until the end of the 19th century, the monetary system of Russia remained almost unchanged. By the end of the 19th century, Russia, like other countries, introduced gold money into circulation. The ruble was considered the main currency. It contained 17,424 shares of pure gold. But it was a "conditional ruble", the gold ruble coin did not exist. The imperial, ten-ruble and five-ruble coins were minted. Silver was used to make a ruble coin, 50, 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5 kopecks.
The emergence of paper money
Under Elizaveta Petrovna, General Director Minich proposed a plan to improve the financial situation of the state. The plan was to issue cheap paper money on the model of Europe instead of expensive metal ones. Minich's project went to the Senate and was rejected there.
But Catherine II carried out this project: instead of bulky copper money, in 1769 she issued paper notes in denominations of 25, 50, 75 and 100 rubles. They were freely exchanged for copper money, and for this purpose two banks were established in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1768. Catherine II's banknotes were the first Russian paper money.
The Russian government, carried away by the successful experience, increased the issue of banknotes from year to year. The banknotes were gradually depreciating. To maintain the value of the paper ruble, credit notes were introduced in 1843, which also began to depreciate.
The beginning of the monetary system of the USSR
In August 1914, world war broke out.
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| Kerenki - one of the forms of money circulation in the early Soviet years |
In the middle of 1917, new money appeared. These were kernels, made on bad paper, without numbers and signatures, in denominations of 20 and 40 rubles. They were released in uncut sheets, the size of a newspaper. It was easy to counterfeit, and a lot of counterfeit money appeared in the country. Together with them, the amount of money in circulation in comparison with 1914 increased 84 times.
It was with some difficulty that the sabotage of the Expedition of Storing State Papers was broken. She was forced to work even on holidays. In order to have paper, it was necessary to open a special factory in Petrograd, to create an organization for the preparation of rags - the raw material from which paper is made. The production of paints was opened. Some paints had to be bought abroad for gold.
In 1921, an average of 188.5 billion rubles worth of money was issued per month. To reduce the demand for banknotes, banknotes of 5 and 10 thousand rubles were issued. Then, following the monetary famine, there came a "bargaining chip" - there was not enough small money. The peasants handed over their grain to the state distribution centers, but there was no way to pay them off. I had to give one large bill for several people. This caused discontent. The speculators used the difficulty: they exchanged money for a high fee. For the exchange of a hundred-ruble ticket, they took 10-15 rubles.
To satisfy the need for bargaining chips, the government issued bargaining chips. These were tsarist stamps and postage stamps, which were stamped to show that they had been converted into money. Money hunger forced the Soviet authorities in provincial cities to issue their own banknotes. This was done in Arkhangelsk, Armavir, Baku, Verny, Vladikavkaz, Yekaterinburg, Yekaterinodar, Izhevsk, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kaluga, Kashin, Kiev, Odessa, Orenburg, Pyatigorsk, Rostov-on-Don, Tiflis, Tsaritsyn and Khabarovsk, Chisinau other cities. The money was printed by Georgia, Turkestan, Transcaucasia. Bonds, credit notes, checks, and exchange signs were issued.
This is how the "turkbon", "zakbon", "grubon", "sibirki" - money issued in the cities of Siberia appeared. Local money was made primitively. For example, for Turkestan bonds, they took gray loose brown paper and painting paint painted on roofs.
The increased issue of paper money completely upset the country's economy. The purchasing power of the ruble has slipped down, prices have risen enormously. The factories that printed money employed 13,000 people. From 1917 to 1923, the amount of paper money in the country increased 200 thousand times.
For insignificant purchases, they paid with thick bundles of money, for larger ones - with sacks. At the end of 1921, 1 billion rubles, even in large denominations - 50 and 100 thousand rubles each - was a luggage weighing one or two pounds. Cashiers who came to get money for the payment of wages to workers and employees left the bank with huge bags on their backs. But that money could buy very little. More often than not, the owners of the goods refused to accept the discounted money altogether.
Strengthening the monetary system
In 1922, the Soviet government issued special bank notes - "chervontsy". They were calculated not in rubles, but in another currency - the chervonets. One ducat was equated to ten pre-revolutionary gold rubles. It was a solid, stable currency, backed by gold and other government assets. Chervonets confidently and quickly did his job - he strengthened the monetary system.
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At first, many did not believe in him: "You never know what you can write on paper!" But every day the exchange rate of the chervonets in relation to the ruble was increasing. The course was determined in Moscow and transmitted by telegraph throughout the country. It was published in newspapers, hung out on the streets of cities. On January 1, 1923, the chervonets was equal to 175 rubles, which circulated until 1923; in a year - 30 thousand rubles, and on April 1, 1924 - 500 thousand rubles!
"One ducat" was large bill... There were even larger ones - 3, 5, 10, 25 and 50 ducats. This caused great inconvenience. Again, there was a "bargaining chip" crisis: there were not enough small bills and coins. In 1923, another step was taken to strengthen the monetary system: banknotes of the newly created Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were issued. 1 ruble in these signs was equal to 1 million rubles issued before 1922, and to 100 rubles in 1922 money.
In 1924, state treasury notes were issued in denominations of 1, 3 and 5 rubles. It was money that was the same for the entire USSR. The pernicious diversity has come to an end. But most importantly, it was decided to calculate the ruble in gold. It was equated to 0.774234 grams of pure gold as pre-revolutionary. Our ruble gained full strength, it was now equal to 50 billion rubles in the old banknotes! Its purchasing power has grown.
True, no gold ruble coin was issued. The Soviet government took care of gold. It would be a waste of money if it were to be minted out of it. But they released a full-fledged silver ruble. Its purchasing power was equal to that of gold.
Silver 50, 20, 15 and 10 kopecks appeared. A bargaining chip of 5, 3, 2 and 1 kopeck was made of copper. In 1925, they produced a copper "half". It existed until 1928. In 1931, silver bargaining chips were replaced by nickel ones.
In 1935 nickel coins gave another drawing, and in this form they walked until 1961. When the Great Patriotic War, the surplus money put into circulation greatly hindered the economic life of the country, to restore National economy, abolish the card supply system. The fact is that speculators have accumulated a large amount of money, and if the state began to sell food and industrial goods without cards, they would immediately buy up scarce things in order to speculate again. Therefore, it was decided in 1947 for every 10 old rubles in exchange to give 1 new ruble. The old coins remained in circulation. At the same time, cards for food and industrial goods were canceled, prices for some of the goods were reduced. The working people have only benefited from this reform. The ruble has grown stronger.
Monetary reform of 1961
Purchasing power won even more
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| 5 kopecks 1961 |
In addition to a 1 ruble ticket, banknotes were issued in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 rubles. But the ruble was now not only paper. He also had a metal suit. This is a resounding, brilliant ruble!
Monetary system of modern Russia
In 1991-1993. in connection with political and inflationary processes, the collapse of the USSR and the formation of the CIS, individual banknotes of the USSR banknotes were replaced, banknotes of higher denomination were issued, national paper banknotes appeared in some states (large union republics of the USSR), symbols, decoration and the technique of making paper banknotes, the use of various substitutes for banknotes (coupons, coupons, tokens, etc.) has expanded. 1993-1994 - the process of creating a national currency and the separation of monetary circulation in Russia from the monetary systems of the states of the former USSR.
1st January 1998 at Russian Federation the monetary reform began (1000-fold denomination of the ruble), the exchange of banknotes was carried out until December 31, 1998, and the Central Bank will exchange until December 31, 2002. Since January 1, 1998, coins of the 1997 sample have been put into circulation. The value of 1, 5, 10, 50 kopecks and 1, 2, 5 rubles. The coins were minted at the Moscow and St. Petersburg mints, and are designated on kopecks (m) and (s-p), in rubles (MMD) and (SPMD). The coins show the year of minting 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001. Since January 1, 1998, banknotes (Bank of Russia tickets) of the 1997 model have been put into circulation. Dignity of 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 rubles. The banknotes were printed at the factories of Goznak. The banknotes indicate the year of the sample 1997. Since January 1, 2001, a banknote (Ticket of the Bank of Russia) of the 1997 sample with denomination of 1000 (Thousand) rubles has been put into circulation. The banknote was printed at the factories of Goznak. The year 1997 is indicated on the banknote. This decision was made by the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia on August 21, 2000. A sample and description of the banknote was presented on December 1, 2000.
In 2001, modified banknotes (Tickets of the Bank of Russia) of the 1997 sample, in denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500 rubles, were put into circulation, the banknotes bear the designation: "Modification of 2001". The same thing happened in 2004, when 2004 modification notes were issued. After the collapse of the country's financial system and the devaluation of the national currency in August - December 1998, and continuing inflation in 1999 - 2001, the ruble exchange rate was constantly decreasing, and the Central Bank of Russia was forced to develop higher denomination notes. They were 5000 ruble bills issued in 2006.