When did silver money appear? When did coins appear?

In those days, Lydia lay at the crossroads of many roads. All trade routes to the countries of the East and Ancient Greece passed through its territory. This is where the urgent need for trade facilitation arose. And this was a serious obstacle to heavy ingots, which acted as the money supply. The inventive Lydians were the first to think of making metal coins from electrum, which is a natural alloy of gold and silver. Small fragments of this metal, shaped like beans, began to be flattened, putting the sign of the city on their surface. These symbolic pieces of metal began to be used as a bargaining chip. The first Lydian coins got their name in honor of the Lydian king Croesus, who, according to the legends, possessed untold wealth. This is how the world saw kroeseids - the first metal money with an image.

Money turnover

A few decades later, the rulers of the Greek city of Aegina began minting their own coins. Outwardly, they were not at all like the Lydian cruseids and were cast from pure silver. Therefore, historians claim that metal coins in Aegina were invented independently, but a little later. Coins from Aegina and Lydia very quickly began to move throughout Greece, moved to Iran, and then appeared among the Romans, finally conquering many barbarian tribes.

Gradually, coins of many cities entered the market, which differed from each other in weight, type and value. A minted coin of one city could cost several times more expensive than coins another, because it could be cast from pure gold, and not from an alloy. At the same time, coins with an image or emblems were valued much higher, because. distinguished by the purity of the metal and fullness. The stamp of the mint that minted money enjoyed unshakable authority among all residents.

Greek coins

In the territory Ancient Greece there were several city-states: Corinth, Athens, Sparta, Syracuse, and each of them had its own mint, which minted its own coins. They were of different shapes, various stamps were applied to them, but most often they were images of sacred animals or gods, who were revered in the city where the coin was minted.

So, for example, in Syracuse, the god of poetry Apollo was depicted on the coins, and the winged Pegasus soared on the coins of Corinth.

When it comes to the first money, professional historians and archaeologists, as a rule, talk about animal skins, bird feathers and various kinds of shells found in excavations. In the eastern part Pacific Ocean on the islands of Micronesia, for example, as a prototype modern coins used Rai - round stones with a carved center. They were made from limestone. The dimensions of these "coins" could reach several meters, and weight - several tons! From the point of view of scientists, these were the first money. And cows, bulls, sheep were also used as money (the word “capital” comes from the old German “wealth”, it consisted in the number of livestock) and so on ...

Nothing to do - such is the scientific way of thinking! But for ordinary person, of course, all of the above refers rather to the predecessors of the modern currency, its original prototypes, and cannot be called in any way money in the full sense of the word. It's not even coins!

Metal as a board

But the moment came when the monetary function passed to metals - but not yet to coins. Metal rings, household utensils, arrowheads and spearheads, and even ingots of various weights and shapes could be used as payment. For example, the Italians accepted copper ingots by weight before they had the first coins (we talked about 300 kg of ingots found in Italy in the sacred spring of Apollo in an article about barter). Then it occurred to someone to mix copper and tin with silver and gold. Gold and silver bars were obtained, containing a certain percentage of the precious metal. In order not to get confused, the ingots were checked for weight, and a sample was taken from the metal. For the first time, a stamp appeared on the ingots, with the help of which the state solved the problem of counterfeiting money. Perhaps, it was from the beginning of the practice of branding that we can talk about the birth of the first coins, that is, the appearance of money.

First coins

According to some sources, for the first time bronze coins appeared in a highly developed ancient Chinese culture in the second millennium BC. e. But, as you know, Ancient China developed in a very isolated way, therefore, in the countries of the Mediterranean basin, for the first time, they started talking about minted coins only in the 7th century BC. e.

The metal was exposed to high temperatures, after which small disks were formed from it and sent to the anvil. In the writings of Herodotus there is a mention of the minting of the first coins in the state of Lydia. Similar information is found in other ancient Greek thinkers. It is now generally accepted that it was in Lydia in the 7th century BC. e. began to make coins from an alloy of silver and gold. It was from there that the coins came to Greece, Iran and Italy, quickly gaining a place in economy. From the Romans, the practice of minting coins was later adopted by the barbarian tribes.

It was later that they began to call the coin a coin. Moneta is one of the nicknames of the goddess Juno. Juno Moneta is translated as Juno "warning" or "adviser". In antiquity, a mint was located at her temple on the Capitoline Hill.

The first coins in Rus'

The first coins were brought to our country in the 8th century. In the Arab Caliphate, dirhems were minted - coins that were brought to Kievan Rus by merchants who went for goods "over the hill". The original name did not take root, but soon its own appeared - "kuna". Half of the kuna was called cut, 25 kunas made up the hryvnia. By the way, the word "hryvnia" comes from the word "mane" (neck) and meant a necklace made of precious metal. Russians began to mint their coins at the end of the 10th century. In Rus', these were coins made of gold and silver with the image of the Grand Duke and the sign of Rurik. They were called goldsmiths and silversmiths, respectively. But the Tatar-Mongol yoke came - and in Rus' they switched to silver bars. And only in the XIV century the minting of Russian coins resumed. From the word "cut" came the first Russian ruble, and it looked like a stump: 200 grams of silver in the form of an elongated bar, roughly cut at the ends. The cost of that ruble was one hryvnia kuna.

This careless bar was cut into two parts and received half, divided into four - quarters were formed. Small coins were also made from the ruble, the name of which served as the prototype of the modern word "money". A ruble bar was pulled into a thin wire, which was then cut into pieces. The resulting stumps were flattened and minted from them coins - dengi. This was the name of the medieval Turkic silver coins täŋkä.

Copper riot or an attempt to get away from commodity money

Of course, the coins are like the first money significantly changed the way of human life, formed a new type economy and behavior of people. And everything would be fine, but counterfeiters appeared - and if not on the same, then on the next day after the appearance of the first coin. Profession, frankly, the oldest. In Rus', counterfeiters can be found mentioned already in one of the Novgorod chronicles of 1447. The state took punitive measures, but there were no fewer violators. In 1655, the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich decided to issue copper coins. He replaced precious metals with non-precious ones - and so the face value of money arose. But this led to chaos in the monetary system and, as a consequence, to the copper riot. The bloody scenes of the finale of the riot were described by the diplomat and writer Grigory Kotoshikhin:

“They hanged from 150 people, and the decree was given to everyone, tortured and burned ... and punishing them, they sent everyone to distant cities for eternal life ... and another greater thief of the same day, in the night, issued a decree, tying his hands back, having put them in big courts, they drowned the river in Moscow.

Peter's reform and real money

As a result of the rebellion, of course, the copper coin was gradually abolished and silver coins began to be minted again. And at the level of developed European countries the Russian coin was brought out by Peter I, who carried out the reform in 1698. The copper coin was once again established in monetary circulation. And this is very remarkable! After all, now one could speak of a real first coin, not of commodity money tied to the direct value of its material.

Money is a fairly ancient means of payment. But market relations arose much earlier. For centuries, ancient people made purchases, exchanged goods without the use of coins, banknotes and IOUs. How it was possible to conduct trading operations, and what led to the emergence of modern money - in our material.

What did people expect in ancient times?

Different peoples had their own items that acted as money. So, for example, hunting tribes exchanged surplus game for grain and fruits from tribes that were engaged in agriculture and gathering, and livestock from pastoralists. In the Pomeranian settlements, the currency was fish, which was exchanged for bread and meat. However, due to various human needs, it was not always possible to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

The inconvenience of direct exchange led to the emergence of a universal product that was able to satisfy as many requests as possible. Later it was called the general equivalent. In his role in different countries goods of various nature and purpose were presented. Many peoples used livestock as currency. For example, northern peoples they paid with deer, and the ancestors of the Germans - with cows.

Barter - a system of equal exchange

As a rule, important commodities acted as barter. In some societies it was sugar, furs, ivory, cocoa, and in others cowrie shells, beads, allspice and tobacco leaves. Such an exchange also had its drawbacks, since it was difficult to objectively determine the value of a particular product. For example, it was impossible to say exactly how many sacks of grain should be given for one sheep. In addition, like direct exchange, barter included a human factor in which both parties to the process must mutually come to the conclusion that the transaction is beneficial to both. This factor severely limited the possibility of trade.

Gradually, the system of commodity-money relations became more complicated, which led to the emergence of a market. More significant goods were involved here: honey, gold, jewelry, grain, fur, salt, in some countries slaves served as currency. This contributed to the emergence of fairs. In order to enrich themselves, merchants from different countries began to come to them.

When were coins first minted?

The first coins were minted in Lydia, around 700 BC. Unlike weight bars, the state itself was engaged in the manufacture of such a currency. Gold, copper and silver served as the main metal for coinage. But with the advent of the first coins, fakes also appeared. To confirm the value of public money, the government applied an image with an inscription on them. In many countries, counterfeiting was punishable by death.

The emergence of an official currency greatly simplified the economy and strengthened money as a means of payment. Minted coins gradually replaced barter, and the cost of goods began to be calculated according to a special formula. The prices have already included the materials used, the complexity of the work and the time spent. The designation of the cost made it possible to make the process of commodity exchange more convenient, faster and easier.

When did paper money first appear?

The first paper money began to be used in China, in the 1st millennium. new era. The Chinese were the first to think of depositing their savings in "banks". In return, a special document was issued, which indicated the amount that was deposited with the "banker". This allowed people to pay not with coins, but with certificates.

Such receipts circulated all over the world until the 16th century, and their credibility only grew. Such banknotes were small rectangles of paper, each of which was marked with the denomination of the bill. Such money allowed to solve problems with debt notes and really support the economy. In Russia, the first paper money appeared only in 1769 under Catherine II.

It may seem strange, but today not only people have money. An example of this.

People have tried many types of "money". In Rus', these were the furs of a fur-bearing animal, in Melanesia - pork tails, in Sparta - stone blocks. A filthy piece of leather of an indefinite color with worn inscriptions is also money, in the past they really had circulation in Alaska.

In Brazil, scarlet flamingo feathers served as currency. And on the island of Santa Cruz, not far from Australia, money was replaced by a belt woven from the feathers of a small honey-bearing bird.

Elsewhere, cowrie shells, cocoa beans, pieces of amber, salt, metal ingots, and even people themselves were money - slaves. By the way, cowrie shells were in circulation on the territory of Armenia until the 18th century.

In ancient Greece, the universal means of payment - money - was large and small livestock: bulls, horses, sheep. The Latin word Recunia (money) originates from the word Recus (cattle). In ancient Rus', the princely treasury was called a cattlewoman, and the treasurer was a cattlewoman.

Archaic types of money gave way to more convenient and practical ones, and not pigs and cows, but furs, salt and silver bars for exchange were already stored in the princely cattle-house.

There were certain requirements for money. Ideal money should be a sufficiently compact commodity that embodies high value in a small volume and weight, can be easily divided into smaller parts, be more durable than stone, not dissolve in the rain like salt, not deteriorate and not burn in a fire like furs. It turned out that stable, rare and expensive metals are the most convenient for transportation, exchange and storage.

The process of crowding out one money by another occurred spontaneously, regardless of the will of the people. True, during periods of wars, revolutions and other messes, there was an equally natural spontaneous return to lower forms of money (most often as close as possible to direct consumption). So, during the war years in Belarus, the Germans promised a kilogram of salt for the head of a partisan, considering gold and paper money less effective.

Iron, copper, lead and even tin were used as monetary metals. For example, in ancient Greece, iron bars served as money. But these metals, as money, were in many respects inferior to precious (noble) metals - gold and silver. The latter, among other things, are aesthetically attractive. Gold and silver have inexorably driven other forms of money out of the market. According to a number of requirements, these metals corresponded to the ideal. They are homogeneous, durable, divisible, compact and valuable in themselves.

It is inconvenient to pay with non-metal money - units of such money inevitably differed from one another in size and quality.

With the beginning of the use of gold and silver, monetary calculations switched to weight calculation. Golden sand was especially convenient for weighing. Until the 20th century, Klondike gold miners paid in ounces and pennyweights of gold dust.

Archaeologists believe that gold is the first metal found by man. And it happened more than 4 thousand years ago BC.
Gold attracted. Even despite the limited scope of its application, people were drawn to it. They wanted to wear jewelry from it, to own it. The similarity of its color with the sun, a coincidence to which people attached a deep meaning.
Unlike copper, which turns green, iron, which rusts, and silver, which tarnishes, pure gold is exceptionally chemically inert. Gold and silver were associated with magic and divinity. People almost everywhere considered gold and silver to be sacred materials. Durability, the ability to retain their composition and attractiveness without being subjected to corrosion, made these metals almost ideal for making coins.
Due to its longevity, the metal retains its value for a long time. Because it can be made into small and large pieces, it serves excellent remedy exchange. Gold was also used in the pre-monetary period mainly for the purposes of trade, being a means of circulation. Gold served as money as early as 1500 BC. in China, India, Egypt, Mesopotamia and other countries. Once technology and social organization reached a level where a standardized amount of gold and silver began to be used for exchange, the appearance of small coins was only a matter of time.
On the issue of the origin of the coin in numismatics, there are various versions. The Greeks attributed the invention of the coin to the heroes of their myths, the Romans to the gods Janus or Saturn. According to their views, the oldest coins with a head two-faced god and Janus knocked out the bow of the ship in honor of the god of time Saturn, who arrived in Italy from Crete by ship.
Herodotus and some other ancient authors wrote that the first coins were minted in the Asia Minor state of Lydia. The technological and cultural shift away from primitive commodities represented the first monetary revolution, and this, according to numismatic research, happened only once.
In our time, it is precisely established that, indeed, the coin was born by Lydia, who began its emission (production) at the end of the 7th century BC. It happened in Western Asia, where Turkey is now, and from there spread throughout the world, becoming the global monetary system in which we live and work today.
The very word "coin" in Latin means a warning or adviser. The Roman goddess Juno (Hera), the patroness of trade and the wife of Jupiter (Zeus), had this title, since it was believed that she repeatedly warned the Romans about earthquakes and enemy attacks. In the workshops (a kind of "mints") on the Capitol Hill near the temple of Juno Coin, the first minted metal money appeared. In Rome, this money was given the name "coin" in the place of their manufacture. Then this word got into most European languages.

The first Lydian coins were made from an alloy of silver and gold called electra. So in Lydia there was a monetary revolution. Gold and silver finally became money. Several decades passed, and coins appeared in the Greek city of Aegina. They were minted from silver and differed in shape from the Lydian ones. It is assumed that in Aegina the coin was invented, although later, but completely independently of Lydia. From Lydia and Aegina, coins quickly spread throughout Greece, through the colonies, and further into Iran. Then they appeared among the Romans, and among many barbarian tribes. Self-coins were invented in India and China. So the pieces of metal were dressed in "national uniforms". After Rome, the minting of coins was most widespread in Ancient Greece. Official sources confirm that it was taken up deliberately, with the use of a state stamp, with a guarantee of good quality of the coin metal. And the stamp, which is a formal notice of value, turns into an independent sign. Soon round form coins, as the most convenient for circulation, supplanted all others.
Each coin had a certain image and an inscription - a legend. With the advent of the first coins, numismatics also appeared. After all, it is clear that until coins appeared, the main material of numismatics was absent. Every numismatist knows that the front side of the coin is called the obverse, the reverse side is called the reverse, and the edge or edge is called the edge.
The appearance of a minted metal coin is an important milestone in the history of any state. This is evidence that this society has reached a high degree of economic and social development. Money has established a new way of thinking and acting that has changed the world. Only now, almost three thousand years later, is the power of money becoming undeniable in human affairs. Although why "the power of money"? Probably, the postulate of the English economist Francis Bacon, almost 500 years ago, is more appropriate here: “Money is a very bad master, but a very good servant.” Although, why the English postulate ?, after all, the Russian proverb is also appropriate here: "Gold is like water - it will break through everywhere."
The first coins were primitive both in terms of execution technique and design concept. The art of minting coins improved every century, the engraving improved, the image became more realistic, and due to the increase in the coin field, the compositional capabilities of the carvers expanded. And it is no coincidence that many of the commemorative and memorial coins are classified as works of art of small forms or, as they say, works special kind small plastic.

The expansion of world trade increased the demand for gold as a monetary metal. The growth of world gold production, and especially its inflow to Europe from America, Australia and Africa, hastened the displacement of depreciated silver and created the conditions for the transition of most countries at the end of the nineteenth century to gold monometallism. The formation of the world market expanded the sphere of circulation of gold and made it world money.
As already mentioned, gold and silver are the oldest monetary metals. But even before the advent of coins, gold and silver objects and ingots were widely used as a means of payment. So, it is known that in the money circulation of Russia for almost two centuries - from the 12th to the 14th, in the so-called "monetless period", gold and silver bars were used. Silver was smelted into hryvnia ingots. "Hryvnia" was the usual means of payment. Yes, and the very word "silver" in the vocabulary of the Slavs has long been synonymous with money. In Russia, in the 14th-17th centuries, silver was the main monetary metal: silver denga and kopeck dominated in monetary circulation. The word "coin" in Rus' became accustomed only from the time of Peter I.
The fact that there is a lot of gold on the territory of Russia was written back in the 5th century BC. the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, based on the testimonies of travelers. Herodotus' forecast was fully confirmed, but only after twenty-three centuries.
The search for precious metal on Russian soil has been going on for a very long time. They were started by Prince Vladimir of Kiev in the 10th century. Kievan Rus did not have its own gold. Moscow Rus also did not immediately get the opportunity to mine it. And although Ivan III was sure that there should be Russian gold in the land, he had to mint gold coins (the so-called Ugrian chervonets), which he awarded as medals to his entourage, from someone else's, imported gold. Ivan the Terrible established the Order of Stone Affairs, which led the search for gold and silver ores.
By the end of the 15th century, Russian people began to develop the Perm land and the slopes of the Ural Mountains. But all searches for gold here turned out to be fruitless. They were especially active in the area of ​​the Pechora River. Copper and silver ores have been found, but not gold. The search continued during the XVI-XVII centuries.

A. "zlatnik" of Prince Vladimir
B. Shuisky's golden penny
V. Dukat Ivana 3

Despite all the efforts of the Russian tsars, there was practically no gold of their own until the second half of the 18th century. There was not enough silver and even copper. Peter I issued a series of decrees ordering to look for gold, threatening punishment for those who hide their finds, promising rewards for those who make them. And during the years of his reign of Peter I, Russia began to produce its own gold. True, very little and only in passing - during the processing of silver ores.
The real Russian gold mining began in 1745, when a Shartash peasant Erofey Markov found ore gold near his village in the Urals. Here, in 1747, the first gold mine in Russia began its work. Since that time, the Russian gold mining industry has its origins. In total, from 1752 to 1917, over 2,800 tons of gold were mined in Russia, which is more than 12% of the total world production for that period.
The first Russian gold coins (gold coins) appeared in Kievan Rus under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century. I must say that the name ZLATNIK was given to the first Russian gold coins by later researchers, contemporaries called them KUNAS and ZLAT. Later, as already mentioned, under Ivan III gold was minted, or as they were also called Ugric, since they were made like Hungarian ducats. Similar coins were also known during the short reign of False Dmitry I. Then, during the period of V. Shuisky, gold “NOVGORODKI” and “MOSKOVKI” (kopeks and money) were put into circulation. Gold coins (chervonets, half-chervonets and quarter-chervonets) were also minted under the following rulers: Mikhail Fedorovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, Fyodor Alekseevich, his sister Sophia and brothers Ivana and Petr Alekseevich Chervonets - the name that was given in Russia to foreign gold coins, mainly Dutch ducats. It comes from the color of high-grade gold, which was then called pure gold. Before Peter I, gold coins were issued in Russia, but they served as award signs, not coins.

The history of the origin of many Russian coins is inseparable from the history of the Russian state itself. So, a MEMORIAL (commemorative) gold coin with a face value of 5 rubles with the inscription on the reverse “FROM ROZS. KOLYV." minted on the occasion of the beginning of the use of gold mined at the Kolyvano-Voskresensky mines in coin production.
DONATIVE (gift) gold coins rightly belong to the category of the most rare Russian coins. These coins were produced in "special orders" in 1876, 1896, 1902 and 1908 in limited quantities and were not intended for regular circulation. Coins with a face value of 25 rubles with the date "1876" and the inscription: "Pure gold 7 spools 3 shares" were minted in a limited edition (no more than 100) by order of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (Uncle Nicholas II). According to V. V. Uzdenikov, with whom many numismatists agree, the minting of these coins is associated with their souvenir purpose.

On the initiative and with the active participation of Witte, serious economic transformations were carried out in Russia, large-scale projects were implemented that strengthened public finances and accelerated industrial development. These included the introduction of a state-owned wine monopoly in 1894, the construction of the Siberian Railway, the conclusion of customs agreements with Germany, the development of a network of technical and vocational schools. But in the memory of Witte's descendants, first of all, he will remain as the organizer and inspirer of the reform, which they began to call "Witte's monetary reform." And it is no coincidence that in 1997 the Central Bank of Russia issued a silver coin worth 3 rubles with a portrait of S. Yu. Witte in honor of the 100th anniversary of the monetary reform in Russia. Becoming Minister of Finance in August 1892, Witte did not immediately accept the idea of ​​introducing a gold parity, although his predecessor as Minister of Finance, I. A. Vyshegradsky, took it seriously. After the successful transition of Austria-Hungary to gold circulation, Vyshegradsky even invited one of the initiators of this transition, A. Yu. Rothstein, who later became Witte's confidant, to Russia.
Witte had to decide for himself and convince Nicholas II in which direction to carry out the reform: on the basis of monometallism (gold) or bimetallism (silver and gold). The second option was supported by both the tradition of Russian money circulation and the huge reserves of silver accumulated in the country. However, tying the credit ruble to the bimetallic equivalent was also fraught with great danger: with a high market situation for one of the parities, a steady decline in the value of the other could not only fail to lead, but even increase its instability. A sober calculation and a vision of the historical possibilities of Russia made S. Yu. Witte a staunch supporter of monometallism.
The Minister of Finance developed the principles of the reform and a detailed plan for its implementation, and received the full support of the king. The introduction of gold circulation took place in stages. In February 1895, Witte submitted to the Finance Committee a draft on the resolution of transactions for gold coin, which could serve as the basis of financial transactions along with silver and credit notes. A decisive step towards gold circulation was the law approved by the State Council and approved by Nicholas II on May 8, 1895.

In 1896, it became necessary to start making a new type of gold coin. By that time, it had not been carried out for several years due to the planned financial reorganization. The Ministry of Finance believed that issuing coins of five and ten ruble denominations was inefficient: the discrepancy between the indicated denomination and the real value was one of the most important obstacles to the spread of circulation. It was decided to mint a new coin with the inscription "15 rubles" on the imperial and "7 rubles 50 kopecks" on the semi-imperial. By the way, as already mentioned, the first gold imperials in denominations of 10 rubles and semi-imperials (5 rubles) appeared in Russia as early as 1755. The value of the credit ruble was determined at 1/15 of the imperial, and the law obliged to exchange paper money for gold without restriction.
The transformation of the monetary system on the basis of gold monometallism also required changing the monetary charter, the new version of which was approved by Nicholas II on July 7, 1899. Its main provisions boiled down to the following: monetary unit Russia is the ruble, which contained 17.424 shares of pure gold.

The system of gold monometallism with the circulation of credit notes existed in Russia until 1914. From the very first days after Russia's entry into World War I, the government began to use the issuance of credit notes to cover the state budget deficit, and the law of July 27, 1914 eliminated the exchange of credit notes. tickets for gold. With the development of the inflationary process, the process of the disappearance of specie from circulation began. With the cessation of the exchange of credit notes for gold, the population began to hoard a gold and then a silver coin. Gold, silver, and subsequently copper coins completely disappeared from circulation and settled in the hands of the population and in the form of treasures.

After a long break, the coin returned to circulation already in Soviet time. At the final stage of the monetary reform of 1922-1924. A previously prepared silver coin in denominations of 10, 15, 20, 50 kopecks was put into circulation. and 1 rub. and a copper coin of 1, 2, 3 and 5 kopecks. Thus, the first monetary program of the USSR Government was implemented. However, at the end of the 1920s, it was finally recognized that the minting of coins from gold, silver and copper “eats up” a huge amount of expensive and scarce metals. This was understood even in pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1910-1911. The Ministry of Finance, together with the Mint, has developed a program to replace expensive silver in small coins with nickel alloys, which have been used since the middle of the 19th century. were successfully used in the monetary business by some European countries. In the future, it was planned to mint bronze coins. Trial nickel coins were made in 1911, but the monetary reform was not completed: the war prevented, and then the revolution. It was carried out already in the Soviet period.

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Before the origin of coins, for centuries the mission of a means of payment, i.e. money, performed various objects of application: shells, slaves, grain, livestock, and more. In the Bronze Age, metal became the monetary equivalent.

With the development of trade and production, ingots of precious metals and copper of various shapes and weights began to play a leading role, having a high value with a relatively small mass. In the second millennium BC. in Babylon, merchants, when using ingots or rings made of precious metals, guaranteed their weight and metal content with a brand.

Around 700 B.C. coins appeared in Lydia and the Ionian cities of Asia Minor, which gradually began to replace weight money. They differed from weight money in that the state itself was engaged in their manufacture. Money was obtained from the coin in the form of a convenient piece of metal, for the content of the noble metal in which the state vouched for the applied image and inscription. In addition to the economic function, it also gave this means of payment and circulation the function of an information carrier. The appearance of coins became a means of payment for subsistence, and led to the strengthening of the key positions of the state in the economy.

For example, in Greece, where the money factories were state-owned, life without the state, state regulation and state laws for the citizens of the country became impossible even for economic reasons. Coins are a sign, minted from gold, silver, copper or other metals and alloys, have a front - obverse, and a reverse - reverse side. On the side, the surface of the coin is a edge.

The very first coins appeared in a highly developed culture ancient China in the middle of the second millennium BC. They were made of cast bronze. In the 7th century BC. The first minted coins appeared in the Mediterranean countries. The manufacture and minting of coins was a relatively simple matter, first the metal was melted and small round discs were cast, these discs were minted.

In antiquity, the development of coins took place by the Greek slave states, then by Ancient Rome and reached its peak during the period of the greatest expansion of the territory of the Roman Empire. The word "coin" is one of the names of the ancient Roman goddess Juno and at the same time the name of the first Roman mint at the temple of Juno on the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome.

When the first coins appeared, fakes also appeared. So in ancient Greece, this type of crime became widespread, in the 4th century. BC. in Athens, in the laws of Solon, for the manufacture of counterfeit coins, the death penalty was provided. Counterfeit coins were an everyday occurrence, the people knew the words carved on the wall of the sanctuary of Apollo in Athens: " It's better to fake a coin than the truth».

During recent excavations at one of the ancient Viking settlements in England, archaeologists found an old Arab silver coin, which turned out to be not silver at all, but made of copper with a thin silver coating, it was a skillful fake. Considered the main center of counterfeiting in its heyday ancient rome economically weak Egypt. For the first time, methods and techniques for verifying the authenticity of coins arose. When Antony arrived in Egypt, his retinue included experienced, as we would now call them, "specialists in the examination of coins."

The main metals for making coins for centuries were gold, silver and copper. The state or ruler who minted the money certifies both the accuracy of the weight and the fineness of the alloy of the coin. In history, you can find at least three ways to counterfeit coins. The first is the reduction in the weight of the coin, or the minting of an underweight coin. The second is a decrease in the content of the precious metal in the coin, or a decrease in the fineness of the coin. Sometimes such methods of counterfeiting are called "damage to coins." And the third way is the production of "gold" and "silver" coins from base metals. They were only given the appearance of genuine ones, sometimes they were covered with a thin layer of precious metal.

There were techniques for verifying the authenticity of coins. Simple with a knife, a piece of a coin was cut off and it was easy to install along the cut, real or fake. For example, only covered with a layer of precious metal. True, counterfeiters quickly found a way out: they themselves made an incision on a fake coin and silvered it. And they learned to do it a very long time ago. In addition to the knife, the coin was checked “for a tooth”: if the tooth does not take, then it is fake, since it was well known that gold and silver are relatively soft metals, and the teeth left a mark on them. The coin was tested for sound, thrown on a stone, if there was a sonorous, clear sound, it means that the coin is genuine, deaf - fake.

The manufacture of counterfeit banknotes, as well as the alteration of genuine ones, was detrimental to the state, and counterfeiters were always severely prosecuted in accordance with the laws. However, even the threat of the most severe punishment, and almost everywhere it was the death penalty, did not stop the counterfeiters.

The temptation to forge coins was also caused by the fact that the coins were originally minted extremely carelessly. Their shape was incorrect, the images on the obverse and reverse are unclear. This is explained both by the imperfection of the technique at the mints of that time, and the lack of strict state supervision over the coinage and the state of monetary circulation.

Sometimes kings could not resist the temptation to enrich themselves by counterfeiting. The English king Henry VI used the discovery of his court alchemist in a very original way, who found that if you rub a copper coin with mercury, it is very difficult to distinguish it from a silver one. In order to replenish his treasury, the king without hesitation gave the order to make a batch of "silver" coins in such an unusual way. They were in circulation for a very short time: the deceived subjects were so outraged that they had to stop the "minting" of these coins.

Counterfeiters in the past also did not ignore gold coins. Alchemists - learned to create special metal alloys, very similar to gold, also drilled holes, filled them with fake "gold", and collected the drilled part of the coin for income. Making counterfeit money in the 17th-18th centuries in England it was commonplace. Sometimes even banks could not determine: where are the real ones, and where are the fake ones? The reason is that the production of banknotes was carried out so carelessly that it was not difficult to forge them. So it was until 1844, when a special law in England established a clear procedure for making money and introduced strict requirements for their quality.

The minting of coins was one of the most important prerogatives of the state. The issue was associated with the name of the new sovereign. Minting a coin was a sign of his rights, power, political success. For example, in the X-XI centuries. some of the oldest Russian coins were minted with the image of the ancient Russian prince on the throne and the signatures: “Vladimir on the table”, “Vladimir, and this is his gold”, “Vladimir, and this is his silver”.

The history of the production and circulation of Russian coins, which has already been ten centuries old, can be divided into several periods:

• coins of pre-Mongol Rus;
• payment bars of the coinless period;
• coins of the period of feudal fragmentation;
• coins of the Russian centralized state;
• coins of the imperial period;
• coins of modern minting.

The first 4 refer to the longest time - from the beginning of Russian coinage at the end of the 10th century. until the completion of the monetary reform of Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century. The time of issuing coins of the fifth category into circulation practically coincides with the period of existence of an absolutist state in Russia from the beginning of the 18th century. and up to 1917. The coins of the imperial period are coins of regular minting with exact dating, indication of the name of the ruler, denomination and place of minting.

The earliest mention of counterfeiters in Rus' can be found in one of the Novgorod chronicles. In 1447, a certain “Livets and Vesets” (caster and weigher of precious metals) Fyodor Zherebets made a living by making hryvnias from defective metal. In Rus', as elsewhere, counterfeiting was punished, however, it did not stop.

By decision of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1655, copper coins were put into circulation with a face value of silver ones. And after some time it turned out that some money masters, who had previously lived poorly, quickly became rich with copper money. The reason for this became clear when illegally minted coins and the minted coins themselves were confiscated from them. Forgery of coins in Russia in the 17th century. turned into a real disaster. A huge amount of counterfeit copper money appeared. In addition, in Russia they also learned how to make "silver" coins by rubbing them with mercury. Such "coins" were not uncommon, and they were called "portutins". In the same period, “silver” coins appeared, made by coating copper blanks with tin (tinning).

Early 18th century It is known for the radical breaking of the money economy that had developed in Russia in the previous era. Reform of Peter 1 in 1698-1717 brought the Russian monetary system to the level of developed European countries. This reform gave the country a convenient means of payment in the form of silver and copper coins, the set of denominations of which was based on decimal system. Manual minting of coins, which was the basis of Russian coin production, was replaced by machine. A copper coin, discredited by the previous reform of 1654-1663, was established in the internal monetary circulation of the country. A single monetary system was established throughout Russia.

The measures taken by the government were aimed at further adapting the monetary system to the needs of the state. Under the successors of Peter I, the financial economy of Russia was in a very neglected state. The state treasury was burdened by the extravagance of the empresses who succeeded on the throne, as well as by the huge costs associated with waging wars. These circumstances could not but affect the state budget, which was already chronically deficient. The main actions of the government in the field of monetary circulation were the opportunistic change in the weight norm of coins and the assay of the alloy of coins from precious metals, as well as an increase in the volume of coinage. So, over the 18 years that have passed since the appearance in Russia of the first coins of a new type, introduced by the reform of Peter I, the mint stop of a copper coin, which initially equaled 12.8 rubles. from a pood of copper, increased three times and by 1718 reached 40 rubles. from a pood (at a copper price of about 8 rubles per pood). As a result, the treasury was significantly replenished with additional profit, but extremely undesirable phenomena arose in the country's monetary economy. First of all, the simultaneous circulation of copper coins minted at different weight norms led to the disappearance of full-weight copper coins from circulation, as well as silver and gold coins, which the population kept at home, and the treasury began to receive state taxes from the lightweight copper coin. In addition, the market turned out to be flooded with counterfeit copper coins, the fabrication of which, after the introduction of the 40-ruble coin stack, became extremely profitable and was carried out not only within the country, but also abroad.

The first half of the 18th century was characterized by a sharp increase in the minting of copper coins for fiscal purposes. Having become the main means of circulation and payment, depreciated copper coins entered the treasury in the form of taxes and other payments. This reduced the overall effect of their minting and increased the financial difficulties of the government. For this reason, the ruling circles of Russia were forced to temporarily abandon further abuse of minting copper coins and reduce the content of pure metal in silver and gold coins. The government needed new sources of income, and above all through the issuance of new money into circulation. This source was the issue of paper money, carried out in Russia in the 60s of the XVIII century. Since that time, the coin in Russia began to circulate in parallel with paper banknotes - banknotes. Coins, primarily copper coins, are gradually turning into a bargaining chip for banknotes.

The constant increase in the number of banknotes in circulation, the issue of which was used by the government as a source of covering its expenses, inevitably led to a fall in the rate of banknotes in relation to gold and silver coins. In this regard, many owners of banknotes sought to exchange them for specie. Since by the end of the 80s of the XVIII century. to carry out exchange operations, the State Assignment Bank no longer had the necessary number of coins, the government was forced to suspend the exchange, and without issuing a special government act, which led to the disappearance of gold and silver coin which have become a store of value.

The Manifesto of June 20, 1810 established the ruble as the universal legal currency for all payments in the country, with a pure silver content of 4 spools 21 shares (18 g), which became the basis of the monetary system of Russia in the 19th century. All previously issued silver and gold coins remained in circulation. Their value was expressed in relation to the new silver ruble. Somewhat later, the manifesto of August 29, 1810 finally determined the purpose of the copper coin, which was recognized as a bargaining chip. The introduction of a system of open minting of silver and gold coins was announced in the country: everyone could bring metal in ingots to the Mint to make coins from it, no fee was charged for this. It was assumed that all these measures would serve to create a new Russian monetary system based on silver monometallism with the circulation of banknotes backed mainly by silver. However, after the invasion of Russia by Napoleon in 1812, when the war demanded huge material and monetary costs, the government was unable to complete the reform. Banknotes were recognized as legal tender, obligatory for circulation throughout the empire. All settlements and payments were to be made primarily in banknotes. The ratio between paper and metal money was established by private individuals, not by the government. In 1815, the exchange rate of the banknote ruble fell to 20 kopecks. silver.

Changes in the Russian monetary system based on the silver ruble were made in 1839-1843. In the course of this reform, depreciated banknotes were gradually replaced by state credit notes, which were subject to an equivalent exchange for silver. Copper money again acquired the role of a bargaining instrument with the silver ruble. The designation of the denomination of copper coins of the sample of 1839 contains an indication that these coins are equivalent to silver ones, for example: “2 kopecks in silver”. The main means of payment was the silver ruble. State banknotes were assigned the role of only an auxiliary banknote. They were to be received at a constant and unchanging rate. This course was 3 rubles. 50 kop. banknotes for the silver ruble.

On July 1, 1839, a decree "On the establishment of the Silver Coin Depository at the State Commercial Bank" was published. The deposit office accepted deposits in silver coins for safekeeping and issued in return deposit tickets for the corresponding amounts. Deposit box tickets were declared legal tender with the right to circulate throughout the country on a par with silver coins. With the help of deposit notes, 100% backed by silver and redeemable for it, the government sought to revive the confidence of the people in paper money. The government was not able to use the issue of deposit notes to increase the revenues of the state treasury, which required other principles of issue. A gradual transition to them was made in the process of issuing a new type of banknotes - the so-called credit notes, only partially covered with metal. Tickets were freely exchanged for specie and circulated on a par with silver coins.

The introduction of a system of silver coins with the circulation of paper money, 1/6 covered with metal, at the first moment contributed to the strengthening of the monetary system in Russia. However, in 1853 the Crimean War began, ending in a heavy military defeat for Russia and the depletion of its finances. The issue of temporary issues of state credit notes was the main source of funding for military spending and covering the state budget deficit for the Russian government. This led to a fall in their exchange rate and caused serious difficulties with the exchange of credit notes for silver and gold. At the beginning of 1854, the government was forced to stop the free exchange of credit notes for gold. The exchange for silver was carried out intermittently. In 1858, it stopped, as the change fund could not provide everyone with specie. In search of a way out of this situation, since 1860 the government has been increasing the issuance of a token silver coin by reducing the content of pure silver in it by 15%: if, starting from 1764, the silver ruble in a token coin contained 18 g of pure silver, now this content has decreased to 15.3 g. The second reduction in the content of pure silver in a small coin (up to 9 g in a ruble) was carried out with a similar goal in 1867. At the same time, the price of a copper coin was increased from 32 to 50 rubles. from the pud. Money circulation was clearly inflationary in nature.

At the end of the XIX century. For the stable development of the economy in Russia, preparations began for a monetary reform, the purpose of which was to replace the inflationary circulation of fiat paper banknotes with a system of gold monometallism with banknote circulation, the transition to which many developed capitalist countries have already made. The government embarked on a monetary reform, took a number of measures to gradually introduce the gold coin into monetary circulation, while striving to ensure a certain ratio between the credit and the gold ruble. In fact, gold coins participated in monetary circulation. However, in the country, formally, the silver ruble was still the monetary unit, which limited the scope of the gold coin. The first stage of the reform was the resolution in 1895 of transactions with gold. For such transactions, payment was made either in gold coin or credit notes at the rate for gold on the day of payment, on May 24, 1895, the institutions of the State Bank were allowed to buy and sell gold coins at the rate. In fact, this meant the establishment of the exchange of credit notes for gold. On January 3, 1897, it was found that 1 rub. gold was equal to 1 rub. 50 kop. credit cards. Thus, the transition to the system of gold monometallism was finally prepared, which was legally established from January 3, 1897.

In November 1897, the unlimited exchange of credit notes for gold was introduced, and they were given the status of legal tender on a par with gold coin. The basis of the monetary system Russian Empire became the golden ruble, which contained 17.424 shares of pure gold. In connection with the introduction of the system of gold monometallism, the silver coin was turned into an auxiliary means of payment.

Naturally, the silver and gold coins that were in circulation were constantly the object of interest of counterfeiters. Of course, the authorities took decisive steps to prevent counterfeiting of banknotes. For example, when drawing up new coin issuance programs, officials of the Ministry of Finance literally from the very first steps began to think about their protection. So, in the note of the Minister of Finance, dated February 1, 1867, “On the issue of a new token silver and copper coin for public circulation,” we read: “ To make counterfeiting more difficult, it is necessary to create new, more beautiful designs, adopting, among other improvements, two types of letters for the inscriptions on the coin: convex and depressed. These letters require different way preparation, and consequently great skill will be needed to make counterfeit stamps". It should be noted that, in addition to great art, the production of indented and convex inscriptions also requires complex technical devices, including powerful press equipment, which, of course, the counterfeiters did not have.

The system of gold monometallism with the circulation of credit notes existed in Russia until 1914. From the very first days after Russia entered the First World War, the government began to use the issuance of credit notes to cover the state budget deficit, and the law of July 27, 1914 eliminated the exchange of credit notes. tickets for gold. With the development of the inflationary process, the process of the disappearance of specie from circulation began. With the cessation of the exchange of credit notes for gold, the population began to hoard a gold and then a silver coin. Gold, silver, and subsequently copper coins completely disappeared from circulation and settled in the hands of the population and in the form of treasures.

After a long break, the coin returned to circulation already in Soviet times. At the final stage of the monetary reform of 1922-1924. A previously prepared silver coin in denominations of 10, 15, 20, 50 kopecks was put into circulation. and 1 rub. and a copper coin of 1, 2, 3 and 5 kopecks. Thus, the first monetary program of the USSR Government was implemented. However, at the end of the 1920s, it was finally recognized that the minting of coins from gold, silver and copper “eats up” a huge amount of expensive and scarce metals. This was understood even in pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1910-1911. The Ministry of Finance, together with the Mint, has developed a program to replace expensive silver in small coins with nickel alloys, which have been used since the middle of the 19th century. were successfully used in the monetary business by some European countries. In the future, it was planned to mint bronze coins. Trial nickel coins were made in 1911, but the monetary reform was not completed: the war prevented, and then the revolution. It was carried out already in the Soviet period.

In the second half of the 1920s, the minting of copper and silver (coins) was still ongoing, the choice of material for new coins had already been made: bronze and copper-nickel alloy. , and the Leningrad Mint began their mass production at the end of 1931. In those years, the range of materials from which Russian coins are made was determined.