From Peter I to Catherine II – the history of Russian money

The Museum-Reserve “Tsaritsyno” has preserved a unique collection of coins from the time of Catherine II. Among them are national money, as well as local money – it was possible to pay with them only in certain territories.

The main system of denomination of money was introduced by Peter I. Under him, new silver coins were introduced, including ruble, half a ruble (50 kopecks), half-fifty (25), a hryvnia (10) and a five-kopeck coin. Also copper coins – up to half and a quarter of a penny.

And during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, a 16-ruble foot was adopted, 16 rubles were minted from one pood of copper (a little more than 16 kilograms).

Thus, one coin weighed about a kilogram, 10 coins – 10 kilograms.

Interesting fact!

The salary of Mikhail Lomonosov was 1200 rubles a year, therefore, the weight of the salary in a copper coin exceeded a ton. In order to collect his money, the scientist had to hire two carts.

A little later, in order to avoid such inconveniences, bills of exchange began to be used for large amounts – paper obligations to pay a certain amount.

A 10-kopeck coin of 1762, which is kept in the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve, reminds of attempts to simplify life for Russians. Peter III, the husband of Catherine II, halved the weight of the copper coin, accepting a 32-ruble foot. Also in 1762, the emperor issued a series of coins that were made according to the new system. On the 10-kopeck coins, the state emblem was now depicted on one side – a double-headed eagle, and on 4- and 2-kopeck coins – St. George the Victorious.

Especially for the illiterate, around the stamp image, the denomination was indicated by asterisks.

On the other hand, on all new coins there were images of military fittings (swords, sabers, banners).

The common people did not understand what the “relief” of the ruble was, therefore, after the overthrow of Peter III, Catherine II minted all the coins back.

Intertwined letters E and I and the number II appeared on one side.

But since the new image was applied on top of the old one, the old drawing could show through.

For example, on two-kopeck coins, the inscription “four kopecks” is visible.

Catherine II did not stop there and continued her transformations. Among them is the introduction into circulation of banknotes backed by copper coins.

Also, since 1769, paper money began to be used in Russia. Banknotes faded into the background, although they were convenient, but unsafe. The government was tempted to increase its income by increasing the issuance of this kind of money.

“In the last years of her reign, the empress tried to repeat the reform of Peter III and lower her foot. But her son Pavel once again recoined the coins and even participated in the defiant burning of the seized banknotes in the courtyard of the Assignation Bank, ”says Pavel Yermolov, senior researcher at the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve.

In order to provide paper banknotes, which could be easily forged due to the simple design, in Catherine’s time copper nickels were minted in large quantities, which are stored in the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve. They were found by archaeologists in Zamoskvorechye and on the territory of the museum-reserve itself. One of the nickels, 1792, was found near the Grand Palace. Perhaps the nickel was lost during the work on the Tsaritsyno ensemble of the architect Matvey Kazakov.

“For peasants and philistines, five kopecks in those days was a significant amount. For a quarter of a penny, you could buy, for example, a pie. Nickels and two-kopeck coins are often found in treasures. Our exposition presents a treasure of several dozen such coins, which archaeologists discovered in Zamoskvorechye. The earliest coin is dated 1758, the latest – 1783. The one who buried it did not return for it, which means that some kind of tragedy happened to the person, ”explains Pavel Yermolov.

The collection contains the so-called Moldavian-Walachian coin of 1773, such coins were minted at the Sadogur Mint on the estate of Baron Peter Gartenberg.

They differ from the usual copper coins in their color. All due to the fact that they were minted from yellow bronze, which remained from the cannons broken in the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774.

The second difference is the double denomination. On the one hand, the Turkish currency of those times was a pair, on the other, three kopecks.

It was decided to issue coins with a double denomination due to the fact that the territories of Wallachia (a historical region in the south of modern Romania) and Moldova were then in vassal dependence on the Turkish Empire. Therefore, to make it easier for the Russian military to settle accounts with the local population, such a decision was made.

An interesting point: the coats of arms of Moldova and Wallachia under the Russian crown are engraved on the coins, despite the fact that these lands were not then part of the Russian Empire.

Olga BAKHAREVA.

Photo: Main archive