The history of money turned into an adventure at the Museum of Numismatics

A suitcase worth its weight in gold

How much did a loaf of bread cost in Ancient Greece? Was Sherlock Holmes’s services expensive? Why was pepper more expensive than money in Russia in the 15th century? These and many other questions are answered by the exhibition “Worth Its Weight in Gold,” which opened at the Museum of Numismatics. Artist Anna Alyabova turned the meticulous research of Doctor of Economics Yakov Mirkin into an exciting quest. The most popular coins and banknotes are presented in suitcase display cases as if we were traveling through eras and countries with this luggage. At the end of the adventure, the viewer will find an answer to the question: how has the level of income and consumption of the average person changed over millennia?

One of the halls of the historical chambers of the Zinoviev-Yusupovs of the 17th century, where the Museum of Numismatics is now located, has turned into a time machine. Each viewer is invited to travel with the young man to whom the cartoon that opens the exhibition is dedicated. The animated traveler ends up in Ancient Greece, then in Ancient Rome, then in the Arab East of the 10th century, then in Britain in the 19th century, then in Russia at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries – and ultimately ends up in the present day. Each era and region fits into a travel suitcase, the contents of which can be examined in detail. Here, a hat, shoes, a wallet, a notebook and money are the minimum set of a traveler.

“With this exhibition, we wanted to answer the most frequently asked question in our museum: “What could you buy with this coin?” — exhibition curator Alexandra Mityaeva tells MK. — Especially for the exhibition, Doctor of Economics Yakov Mirkin recalculated the money of the past into modern ones – through a comparative analysis of the cost of meat, fish and bread. It turned out that inflation has been minimal for thousands of years. That is, the income level of an artisan of Ancient Greece and a resident of a modern metropolis is approximately the same.

The first suitcase – with sandals, a wide-brimmed hat and a leather pouch – is dedicated to Ancient Greece. There are drachmas, obols, chalks and meptas with profiles of various rulers or mythical heroes. From time immemorial, it was customary that each new leader issued money with his image, heraldry and name, so that the people knew the ruler by sight. However, people were not always depicted on coins. Here, for example, is a silver diobolus from V BC. in the form of a lion’s head with a flowing mane. The coin circulated in Panticopoeia and was made very skillfully. The lion, as a symbol of power, is one of the most popular animals in the history of world numismatics. Already in Ancient Greece, coinage reached a high level, and craftsmen managed to achieve portrait likeness.

In another suitcase dedicated to the Arab East, there are no portraits; depictions of people are prohibited in the Muslim religion. But each coin is decorated with an elegant pattern and the name of the ruler. On the British pounds and shillings in the next suitcase we can already see the gourde – a special border so that the money is not cut off at the edges – an invention of the Middle Ages. Russian rubles and kopecks in the next suitcase, also with a gourde. And the last showcase contains almost no coins and banknotes – but there are bank cards and drawings that indicate that the technology of money production is increasingly moving into a virtual format – cryptocurrency, cashbacks, bonuses, etc. The art of coinage is becoming a thing of the past, giving way to new technologies. In short, money has undergone an interesting evolution in terms of type and technology. However, when it comes to the income and expenses of the average worker, there is little change.

What could, say, an ancient Greek afford and how much did he receive? In the middle of the late 4th century BC. the most common salary is 1 drachma per day. This is approximately 800 rubles. A policeman, for example, earned 3 obols a day (1/2 drachma = 400 rubles), a craftsman – 1 drachma a day, a legionnaire – the same, and an ambassador – 2. At the same time, the average daily cost of food for a family of 4 people was approximately 4.86 obol – 648 rubles. A loaf of bread cost 1 obol—130–140 rubles. A jug of wine cost 2 drachmas – 1600 rubles. A simple chiton (the most common clothing) cost 10. A wooden chair could be bought for 2–6 drachmas, or 1600–4800 rubles. A small house with a plot – for 2000–3000 drachmas (1.6–2.4 million rubles). There are such calculations for every era. And it turns out that the spending of a modern person differs little from that of a citizen of ancient states.

However, at all times, the salary of the same profession could be different depending on the place of work. Let’s say that in the 19th century, a teacher in a rural school in Russia received 30–40 rubles a month, while a teacher in a metropolitan gymnasium could earn 400 rubles. By the way, the legendary character of Arthur Conan Doyle needed 11 shillings and 6 pence a day (half a pound) for food and 10 pounds a week to rent an apartment on Baker Street. From these requests he set the rate for his services as an investigative detective. So an adventure into the depths of centuries reveals a striking fact: money changes, but life, spending and income – not so much.

But at all times, people needed to count money, and here, too, there were different technologies that occupied the table in the center of the exhibition. Here you can count on an abacus, using black and white pebbles or an adding machine. And there are also popular analogues of money – gold bars or exotic seasonings, which, for example, in medieval Rus’ were more expensive than coins.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29117 dated September 19, 2023

Newspaper headline:
A suitcase worth its weight in gold