Old money: photo

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:45

The emergence of coins in Russia goes back to the period when scattered Slavic tribes existed separately - before unification under the leadership of one prince. With the passage of time and a change in the political structure, the form and quality of old money changed until they acquired their current form. What were the "ancestors" of modern means of measuring value up to the collapse of the Russian Empire, we will consider in the article.

A bit of history

Before the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the territory of Ancient Russia was dominated by barter, but some areas where trade was developed could see foreign silver coins distributed by merchants.

In the 8th-10th centuries, an Arab silver coin (dirham) was firmly established in Russia - large in size and weighing almost 3.5 g. Own old money - coins - began to be minted after the Baptism of Russia at the end of the th century. These were "rebrenniks" - depicting drawings in the manner of Byzantine gold solids - and "zlatniks" - gold coins with a small circulation. The 11th century is characterized by the appearance in certain regions of Russia of Western European denarii (with the image of a cross and weighing a little more than 1 gram).

Period of fragmentation

When the Kulikovobattle (1380), the influence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke in Russia became not so significant. This led to a revival of trade between the principalities, the epicenter of which was Moscow, where the minting of their own coins first began. The following were the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod principality, Novgorod, Ryazan and Pskov. The ancient money of that period consisted of silver coins with the names of money merchants, at the expense of which they were minted. The money differed in weight and fineness of silver, hallmarks and drawings, but in general they were visually similar to each other within the boundaries of one principality. The method of minting was also curious: for almost three hundred years, the process of making coins was reduced to flattening pieces of silver wire, followed by minting images and inscriptions on them. Thus, the quality of the coins was terrible: small and uneven, they often did not fit the full image on their area, they could be partially unminted and with different weights.

First titles

The denomination of the old Russian money was at first the same and was called the Tatar word "denga", later half and quarters appeared (1/2 and ¼ dengas). Novgorod, Tver and Ryazan were noted for issuing their own tokens - pools that look like dengue, but with a much lower value. In some principalities, over time, the coin could change in weight, especially in Moscow during the reign of Vasily the Dark.

"Standardization" of coins in united Russia

Unification of the principalities centered in Moscow during the time of Vasily III led to confusion in the monetary system. Variousthe monetary systems in the cities made it very difficult for merchants to distinguish between all coins by weight and type, to be able to put a price in each of them and to distinguish fake from real.

In this regard, a reform is ripe that would centralize the system of monetary circulation. It was held in 1534 by Elena Glinskaya - the mother (and regent) of the little prince Ivan IV - and stretched out in implementation for 13 years. The reform was characterized by:

• minting coins from the "raw materials" of the state treasury and only on behalf of the head of state;
• creation of cash yards in large cities and the elimination of all others;
• minting three types of coins (denga, polushka and penny denga);
• disappearance of copper pools from circulation.

The appearance of old money (photo below) has not changed much and still resembled fish scales with poorly distinguishable inscriptions.

With the accession to the throne of Ivan the Terrible, a penny with a clear weight of 0.68 grams became the basis of the monetary system. 100 kopecks was the ruble, which became the unit of account. The period of the reign of Tsar Fedor was marked by the marking of dates on coins.

The "Troubled" period and the reforms of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich

The Time of Troubles hit the money circulation in Russia hard, which negatively affected the weight of old money. In 1612, the people's militia issued practically weightless kopecks (0.4 g) with the stamps of the former sovereigns and even the name of the future ruler Mikhail Fedorovich. The latter was noted in the change of the monetary system by the fact that he closed all the money yards, leaving only the Moscow one. A penny to thatmoment and for a long time weighed 0.48 grams.

With the ascension to the throne of the second tsar from the "branch" of the Romanovs, Russia's position is growing stronger, the territory is expanding due to part of the lands of Ukraine and Belarus, and much attention is paid to foreign policy. All this entailed significant costs along with a shortage of silver in the state. Again, there is a need to open monetary (Novgorod and Pskov) and temporary yards for minting copper coins. The size and weight of these copper "flakes" completely repeated and was equivalent to silver kopecks. Also old money of that period were copper altyns, which weighed 1.2 g and were equal to three kopecks. The reforms of Alexei "The Quietest" put into circulation the first ruble coin, equal to 100 kopecks.

The minting of copper coins ceased in 1662 after the copper riot, which occurred as a result of the constant depreciation of this money on the market and, as a result, the depreciation of the labor of peasants who were paid by copper.

Reforms of Peter I

Peter the Great played a big role in the fate of the old money of Russia through reforms lasting almost 27 years (1696-1723). First, large round coins were introduced into circulation: dengu, half a half and half a half. This was followed by the appearance of an 8-gram copper penny and silver rubles, fifty and half-fifty dollars, as well as silver altyns (in an insignificant amount). The last to appear were hryvnias equal to 10 kopecks and silver nickels. In addition, the period of the reign of Peter I was remembered for the production of a gold coin - a gold coin, equivalent toEuropean ducat, and a double gold piece.

Further changes in the monetary system until the October Revolution were not so global, only the quality of minting and drawing images was improved. The ruble weighed 28 g for a long period, but by the end of the 19th century it decreased to 20 g. The gold coin became 1.5 times lighter.

During the reign of Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine II, a large copper nickel (50 g) was issued, which is so treasured by collectors. The front side of the coin depicted a double-headed eagle, and the reverse side depicted the ruler's monogram. Also, this historical period is marked by the minting of the first gold 5 and 10 rubles, called "semi-imperial" and "imperial".

Platinum coins

It turns out that the "monetary" history of Russia can boast of coins made from such a valuable metal as platinum. Their minting in denominations of 3, 6 and 12 rubles was made during the time of Nicholas I. But the demand for such coins was low due to their large weight and similarity to silver, which often led to confusion. Therefore, their release was discontinued.

Old paper money

Russia first saw paper money, called banknotes, in 1769. Their appearance had a positive impact on the replenishment of the gold, silver and copper reserves of the state treasury. But their weak “coverage” with coins led to a weakening of the exchange rate, which depreciated the paper ruble to 20 kopecks by 1813.

In 1839 in usenew paper money is issued, fully backed by silver, which was exchanged for deposit and then credit notes. These changes were completed in 1843, when all deposit notes were exchanged for credit notes at an equivalent rate, and bank notes - at a ratio of 3.5 to 1. Circulation was carried out only in hard paper money, which could be easily exchanged for coins.

"Final" of the monetary system of the empire

By the beginning of the 20th century, the paper ruble was quite firmly on its feet as a result of the new gold standard system and was accepted as payments more readily than gold and silver coins. This was due to a more convenient form of exchange and storage. Payments were made with credit notes of various denominations (1-500 rubles). Banknotes were distinguished by high purchasing power and complex design, photos of old paper money illustrate this perfectly. One ruble was enough to live on for a week, but the face value of 500 rubles could only be found among the rich.

The situation turned back with the outbreak of World War I, which led to the uncontrolled printing of money for the needs of the army. This had a number of negative consequences:

• cancellation of the exchange of credit notes by coins;
• disappearance of a gold coin from circulation;
• ending the minting of silver and copper coins.

Only paper money remains in circulation, and the population hides coins until better times. And when the February Revolution took place, the reputation of the ruble was shaken, whichled to its depreciation.