* Introduction*
Money plays a huge role in the life of society.
No wonder they are called one of the greatest inventions of civilization.
The question of the evolution of money is very interesting.
Money appeared as a kind of universal meter necessary for the emergence of commodity exchange.
Money has taken a variety of unusual forms over its history.
Gradually, people switched to money in the form of a metal coin, which was made mainly of gold, copper and silver.
These metals were relatively rare and had a fairly stable price over time.
The metal content in each coin corresponded to its nominal value.
Later, with the increase and development of trade turnover, more money was needed.
Minted coins had a number of disadvantages: a long and time consuming process of minting, inconvenience in circulation, difficulty in transportation.
And in general, metal money does not contribute to the development of the country's economy.
In such conditions, the idea of issuing paper money that would be provided with some kind of unchangeable property of the country arose.
Of course, paper money is less durable than metal, but the convenience and speed of their manufacture make it easy to replace worn out bills.
Banknotes are much more convenient to handle than coins.
But the convenience and speed mentioned above are at the same time a special disadvantage of paper money, since there is a temptation to cover the costs of the state at the expense of additional issuance.
Of course, there was a practice of issuing coins with a reduced content of valuable metals, but it was not so large scale.
The history of paper money in Russia is quite interesting and rich and deserves a detailed review.
This paper presents the main stages of development and reform related to paper money in Russia.
* I.
* * History of the origin of money*
"What has not served a person with money!
- writes G. A. Fedorov Davydov.
– The range of such things is truly great: from cow skulls on the island of Borneo to bars of salt in Africa, from metal spears in the Congo to human skulls in the Solomon Islands."
In my research work, I want to reflect a very important point, that is, the history of the development of money.
So, primitive people did not know what money was.
They were just exchanging various items with each other.
Potters were changing pots and jugs.
Blacksmiths – arrowheads, knives, axes.
Farmers – grain, vegetable oil, wine.
Cattle breeders – oxen, sheep, wool and leather.
Victorious warriors – their prisoners.
But it is very difficult to exchange.
After all, the value of things and products is different.
It depends on how much labor is spent to make a particular thing or product, or what difficulties, and sometimes dangers, you need to overcome in order to get them.
For one ram, for example, you could get two axes, or one pair of trousers, or four pitchers.
And for a necklace of leopard fangs and claws – a boat or a pair of bulls.
And even find a hunter for such an exchange!
To simplify the exchange, people began to think about which item is most suitable for this.
We tried a lot: cattle, food, furs, and pieces of cloth.
But what an inconvenient money it was!
Sheep and bulls need to be kept and fed somewhere, products from storage deteriorate.
There was a constant struggle between different types of primitive money: some money replaced others.
The most archaic types of money gave way to more convenient, advanced ones.
I want to note a very important point: gradually people realized that money should not be temporary, but permanent.
They should not deteriorate during storage and when changing hands.
It is necessary that money should be easy to carry with you and even a small amount of it should be equal in value to an ox, a house, a ship, and a plot of land.
It is necessary that they are easily divided into small parts – after all, not everyone buys a bull or a ship.
Usually a person buys a piece of meat, a loaf of bread, shoes, a shirt…
I managed to find out that here, too, a new requirement appears – that the total value of money does not decrease with the smallest division.
After all, if, for example, the skin of a sable or a black - brown fox is divided into small pieces,what will be the cost of all the pieces?
I would like to note the following fact: some scientists believe that the first money was the so called "sacred", which appeared in the Stone Age.
Then, for our ancestor, good relations with the natural elements were much more important than with his neighbors.
He believed that everything was in the power of the gods and spirits, and sought to earn their favor.
The sacrifice of all the best that he owned.
It is characteristic that the modern " geld "(money) is based on the ancient German" gelten " - to pay, to compensate in the form of a sacrifice.
In the course of my work, I find that such payment was cattle and stone tools, furs of fur animals and sea shells, fish and cocoa beans, cattle and salt, amber, and even the people themselves (slaves).
Interestingly, one of the first money was cowry shells, mined in the southern seas.
They were drilled and strung on a string, like beads.
But they were not very expensive – thousands of shells had to be counted for one bull.
According to my sources of literature, the first coins were issued in the VII century BC by the Lydians.
These first coins were made of an electrode an alloy containing 75 percent gold and 25 percent silver.
They were the size and shape of beans and were known as staters or standards.
The most convenient money turned out to be metal.
When the production and exchange of goods became regular, in each country and in large economic regions, common equivalents appeared on local markets - the most popular products for which other utilities could be exchanged.
For example, the Greeks and Arabs had cattle, the Slavs had furs.
The requirements of international trade were not met by various local equivalents.
As a result, one universal equivalent, recognized by all peoples, stood out: money.
To fulfill the role of money, gold is the most suitable – a noble metal with great preservation.
Gold also has other qualities necessary for a universal equivalent: divisibility, portability (due to the large specific gravity of gold, less was required compared, for example, with copper), availability in sufficient quantities for exchange (a more noble metal - platinum is less common in nature), high cost (mining one gram of gold requires large masses of labor).
The Greeks, who saw these coins, appreciated their benefits and also began to make coins.
About a hundred years later, many cities in Greece, Asia Minor, the islands of the Aegean Sea and Sicily, as well as in southern Italy, had their own coins.
Gold was valued above all, then silver and, finally, copper.
I, thinking that it is very important to note that the economic literature deals mainly with two concepts of the origin of money: rationalistic and evolutionary.
The first concept prevailed until the end of the XVIII century.
and explained the origin of money as the result of an agreement between people.
Some modern economists interpret money in a similar way.
In particular, P. Samuelson defines money as an artificial convention, and J. K. Galbraith believes that the assignment of monetary functions to precious metals and other objects is the product of an agreement between people.
The most consistent supporter of the second concept was K. Marx, who, based on the ideas of A. Smith and D. Ricardo, defined money as a product and an indispensable condition for the development of exchange and commodity production.
The appearance of money is basically a spontaneous economic process that occurs independently of the will of people.
As the exchange develops, money develops and improves.
While the exchange is becoming more and more regular, the lack of a universal equivalent is its first big difficulty.
The lack of money not only makes it difficult to exchange, but also hinders the development of production.
So, I want to note that money is a special commodity, which is the only universal equivalent, since with the advent of money, the entire commodity economy has moved to a qualitatively new state.
The commodity world has split into two poles: the whole set of consumer values is concentrated on one side, and money expressing the total value of all goods is on the other, so it is necessary to study in more detail the history of the origin of money, the process of RKS numismatics, the history of the development of paper money.
We will talk about this in the following sections of my research work.
*II* *.
Russian Numismatics*
* 2.1 * * Coins in Ancient Russia*
In this section, I want to note what coins were used in Ancient Russia.
Under its first princes, the Old Russian state managed without producing its own coins.
Important international trade routes passed through the Russian lands.
In the cities, a cold blooded Viking merchant and an ardent Arab, a calculating merchant from Germany and an arrogant Greek could meet each other.
Everyone came with their own hard coin, and these coins passed through many hands, changing owners dozens of times.
The Scandinavian received dirhams for the slaves he took in battle – large, but very thin silver mugs covered with Arabic script.
At the end of the first millennium AD, there was no more stable "currency" than the Arabic dirhem.
He was equally willingly accepted by merchants of all countries from India to Spain, from the Novgorod land to Egypt.
A Scandinavian warrior makes a hole on a coin, draws magic runes with a knife that protect against diseases and evil sorcery, and hangs it around his neck.
Many centuries later, archaeologists will find this dirhem with mysterious writings somewhere in Denmark, in an ancient unmarked grave.
A German will get thousands of dirhams for his cloth tens of kilograms of silver, but on the way home, being wary of the warlike local tribes, he will bury this untold wealth near Polotsk.
The indifferent Dvina, having washed away the shore,will hide the merchant's profit at its bottom, sometimes sparingly throwing out another coin on the sandbanks.
A nomad will give a herd of stallions for a bag with silver denarii (the earliest coins that are found on the territory of Kievan Rus - Roman denarii), common in that era, each of which depicted a cross, the profile of a local sovereign and indicated the place of minting.
The Russian prince, having taken a trade duty from the Greeks, will consider for a long time thoughtfully the gold solid minted in the Byzantine Empire: on one side of the coin circle – the emperor with the empress in royal crowns, on the other – the Lord.
The crude, barbaric coins of Western Europe cannot be compared with the masterful minting of Byzantine solidi.
So, I want to emphasize that Russia could quite manage with a foreign coin: here it was well known, they were able to determine the ratios between the money of various states and gave denarii, dirhams, as well as other monetary units their names: "kuna", "rezana", "nogata"…
*2.
* *2* *Coins of Kievan Rus*
In this section, we will talk about the coins of Kievan Rus, namely: in the VIII—X centuries, dirhams, large silver coins with Arabic inscriptions appear in Russia.
Dirhams were minted in the Arab Caliphate, and from there Arab merchants brought them to the territory of Kievan Rus.
Here dirhams received Russian names.
The dirhem became known as a kuna or nogata, the half of the kuna was cut.
And at the end of the X century.
in the Arab Caliphate, the minting of silver dirhams was reduced and their influx into Kievan Rus weakened, and in the XI century.
It stops completely.
Western European coins are beginning to be imported to Russia, which were called denarii in the same way as Roman coins were once called.
The Russian names of coins — kuna or rezany were transferred to these thin silver coins with primitive images of rulers.
And finally, at the end of the tenth century, under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the first Russian coins appeared - "zlatniki" and "srebreniki".
Only an insignificant part of them has survived to our time – less than three and a half hundred copies are known to science.
Prince Vladimir had every reason to consider himself a powerful sovereign: he was successful in wars, baptized his huge power and became related to the Byzantine imperial house.
It was then that the idea came to him to strengthen his own power and the Christian faith, new for Russia, by issuing coins.
Therefore, the gold coins and silver coins of Vladimir and other Russian princes were issued for political rather than commercial purposes.
The images of the Grand Duke and the Lord with the Gospel in their hands were minted on the coin circles – exactly as it was customary for the Byzantines – then the family sign of the ruling princely house of the descendants of Rurik appeared the trident.
Historians believe that the issue of silver coins and gold coins was supposed to emphasize the state independence of Russia, as well as the equality of the grand dukes of Kiev and other sovereigns of Europe.
The bizarre conditions of monetary circulation in Russia were reflected in the fact that Russian masters followed Arabic patterns in choosing the shape and weight of coins, but in their external design they adhered to Byzantine canons.
At first, the roughly made Russian coins under Prince Yaroslav the Wise turned into real works of art.
At that time, neither in Germany, nor in France, nor in England, there were no masters of coinage who would have achieved such a high quality of coinage.
But, since there was no purely economic, commercial need for their own coins in Russia, their release did not last very long.
This period covered the end of the X beginning of the XI centuries and lasted no more than 30 years under Princes Vladimir the Red Sun, Svyatopolk the Damned, as well as during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise in Novgorod.
Since then, for three centuries, coinage in Russia has not been resumed, then there was a coin free period, which I will tell about in the next chapter.
So, in the XIII century.the Tatar Mongols fell on Russia.
It is painful to say this, but the cities were destroyed, trade stalled.
During these difficult years, no coins were minted in Russia, nor were they brought from other countries.
The period from the XII to the XIV century.
so he went down in history under the name "bezmonetny".
The direction of trade routes has changed, the political map of Europe has literally been redrawn in these centuries.
As a result, there was less silver and gold coming to Russia in the form of foreign coins.
Their own deposits of precious metals were not discovered.
The Mongol conquest weakened the ties of the Russian principalities with Byzantium, and the coin minted in the "Empire of Warm Seas" also became an infrequent guest in the vast expanses from Kiev to Novgorod.
The Horde's yoke sucked the silver circles that had become rare from the old princely reserves.
The coin disappeared in Russia, disappeared, disappeared for three centuries.
We know only one type of" coins " of this time: heavy silver ingots.
There were Kiev hryvnia, hexagonal ingots weighing about 160 g, Novgorod, in the form of a long bar weighing about 200 g.
Scientists have not yet found out what items served as money in petty trade during the coin free period.
It is assumed that the role of small change money was performed at that time by products known throughout Russia: crystal and carnelian beads, multi colored glass bracelets, slate spinning wheels (weights for spindles).
It is also known that in the XIV century.
on the western outskirts of the Russian lands, beautiful clear silver coins with the image of a lion were circulated — "Prague pennies", minted in the Czech Republic, and on the eastern outskirts there were dirhams of the Golden Horde — small silver coins without images with Arabic inscriptions.
The following historical moment is very important: it is during the non — monetary period that the main Russian monetary unit the ruble appears.
The Novgorod silver ingot was called a ruble, and its half was called a half — ruble.
*2.
* *4 Coins of Russian lands and principalities of the end of the * * XIV * * century.
– * * XV* * in.
*  In this chapter, I would like to highlight what coins of the Russian lands were by the XIV XV centuries.
The Golden Horde was not only a warrior state, but also a merchant state.
Since the time, the number of artisans from the conquered peoples grew in the Horde cities; there were more and more officials in charge of collecting taxes, customs and other duties.
All of them served the Horde nobility and its entourage.
Living in palaces surrounded by countless relatives, having a crowded court retinue and powerful guards, the rulers of the Horde constantly needed the services of merchants who provided everything necessary for their court, as well as the population of cities.
Trade routes were strictly guarded, merchants were not offended and damaged; trade flourished.
The coins of the Golden Horde (Ulus of Jochi) were freely circulated in Russia and were used by Russian merchants.
But by the second half of the XIV century.
North eastern Russia has mostly recovered from the devastating Tatar raids of previous years: cities began to get rich again, trade relations were established, the oppressive weight of the Horde yoke somewhat weakened.
The Russian lands and principalities, which were truly independent states, became stronger, and the most powerful princes felt themselves true sovereigns in their possessions.
Thus, there was a serious economic and political need to issue their own coins.
And what is interesting is that during half a century (the end of the XIV – beginning of the XV centuries), coinage appeared in Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Moscow, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Tver, Novgorod the Great, Pskov and other cities.
It seems that revived after three centuries of beads and hryvnias, these coins were shapeless silver plates on which you can barely make out the image and the legend.
Some of them were just imitations of the Juchid coins, and the ligature of the Arabic inscriptions of the Horde original was distorted to such an extent by Russian masters that it became absolutely unreadable.
So, the oldest coins minted in Moscow date back to the reign of Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy.
In the XIV century, the Moscow Principality was one of the first to start coining under the famous Prince Dmitry Donskoy (1359-1389).
Two years after the battle on the Kulikovo field, the Horde ruler Tokhtamysh took Moscow and forced Prince Dmitry Ivanovich to resume paying tribute.
Dependence on the Horde for several more decades left its mark on the coins of Dmitry Donskoy and his successor Vasily I.
On the coins of this period, we see the image of a warrior with a battle axe in his hands, next to the name of the prince — Dmitry.
But the other side of the coin imitates the Golden Horde dirhams – "sultan Tokhtamysh" is written in Arabic.
Later, the dependence on the Horde khans came to naught, and Arabic inscriptions no longer appeared on the coins of Russia.
Imitations of Tatar inscriptions disappear from Russian coins only in the XV century.
Further, at the beginning of the XV century.there were about 20 centers of coinage in Russia.
Coins of various principalities differed from each other in weight and appearance.
The oldest images on the Moscow money, which played the role of a kind of coats of arms, were the "rider" (i.e., a rider with a sword, spear or falcon in his hands, personifying the prince), as well as more obvious princely "portraits": a warrior (knee – deep or waist deep) with an axe and a saber, sometimes only a human head in profile or full face.
Already at that time, the Moscow princes considered their property, which can be inherited, not only their own principality, but also the Grand Duchy of Vladimir.
The title of the Grand Dukes of Vladimir according to ancient tradition made them the first, the oldest among all Russian princes.
Therefore, on Moscow coins there was also a purely Vladimir emblem – a predatory animal resembling either a lion or a leopard.
In my work, I want to note that Russian coins minted in different cities and principalities were distinguished by an unusual variety and variety of silver samples, weight, size, and especially images.
The Novgorod coins depicted a whole scene: the patroness of the city, St. Sophia, and a Novgorodian; the laconic inscription read: "Veliky Novgorod".
On the coins of Pskov there was an inscription: "Pskov money".
It should be noted that there were no princely names on the coins of Novgorod and Pskov, since the highest power in these cities belonged to the veche.
The Rostov princes minted very complex scenes on their coins, for example, the sermon of John the Baptist.
The coins of the Ryazan Principality depicted a kind of coat of arms of the principality and the name of the ruling prince.
There are hunting scenes on the Tver coins.
Russian Russian silver coins of the XIV—XV centuries were called "denga"; this word, somewhat modified - money received a broader meaning in the Russian language.
In addition to silver coins, copper coins were minted in some large cities — pools.
Silver and copper coins were minted from wire, which was cut into pieces of a certain weight (less than 1 g).
These pieces of wire, previously flattened, were minted with coinage, on which images and inscriptions were carved.
Russian Russian coins In this chapter, I want to emphasize another very important point in the history of the development of money: as the Russian principalities were united into a single state, the diversity in the weight and appearance of Russian coins began to complicate trade.
In 1534, a monetary reform was carried out in the Russian centralized state.
Three monetary courts were left: Moscow, Pskov, Novgorod, where only one type of national coin was minted.
These were kopecks, money and half kopecks (1/4 kopecks).
The pennies depicted a horseman with a spear (hence the name "kopek") and the inscription: "Tsar and Prince Great Ivan of all Russia", on the money — a horseman with a saber and the inscription: "Tsar and Prince great Ivan", on the fly — a bird and the word "sovereign".
*2.
* *5 Coins of the Moscow State*
Studying the development of Russian numismatics, it is important to note that at the turn of the XV – XVI centuries, a monolith of the Moscow state was formed from a scattering of lands and principalities of Russia.
In the same way, the "great pandemonium" of coin types by the middle of the XVI century gave way to the unshakable monotony of the national coin.
Throughout the XVI and most of the XVII centuries, only three coins were minted in the Moscow state: "dengu", kopecks (two dengs) and "polushka" (half a dengi).
In those days, they counted not for pennies, but for dengs and altyns (there were 6 money in each altyn).
There will never be an entry in any document of Old Moscow origin that says that "such a product costs 20 kopecks (or 70 kopecks)."
The price was indicated as follows: "6 altyns and four dengs" or "23 altyns and two dengs".
They also counted on hryvnia, half rubles and rubles.
In the old days, Slavs wore a necklace made of precious metal around their neck - a hryvnia ("mane" - neck).
(Jewelry has always been a marketable 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.)
The hryvnia consisted of 20 money, the half ruble of 5 hryvnia, and the ruble of two half rubles.
But neither the altyn, nor the hryvnia, nor the half ruble, nor the ruble existed in the form of real coins – they were only counting units.
The Russian ruble of the time of, say, Ivan the Terrible or Boris Godunov is by no means a solid sized silver disk, as it will be much later, but a weighty bag in which one or two hundred small coins could fit…
Silver intended for coinage was "dragged", i.e. the metal was rolled out to a thin wire.
This wire was cut into small pieces, flattened, and then coins were minted from the resulting teardrop shaped plates.
It is very important to note that since 1534, Russian coins remained unchanged until the end of the XVII century.
The images on the national money were not changed.
On the kopeck and dengue there was a "rider" with a spear or a sword, and on the top – a small, poorly distinguishable bird.
Only the names of the kings in the inscriptions changed.
On the other side of the coins issued in the period from Ivan the Terrible to Peter I, the name of the next "tsar and grand Duke of all Russia"is read.
Uneven silver plates the size of a fingernail or less, were used in a huge space from Yakutsk to Smolensk and from Arkhangelsk to Astrakhan.
Nowadays, collectors tend to call them semi mockingly "scales" - for some external similarity to fish scales.
Hoards of" scales " sometimes number hundreds and thousands of copies: the coinage went on from year to year, without interrupting even for the troubled era of the False Dmitrievs, Ivan Bolotnikov and the Polish Lithuanian Swedish intervention.
During the years of intervention, at the beginning of the XVII century, the Russian monetary system experienced a severe shock.
The invaders proclaimed the Polish prince Vladislav as the Russian tsar and began to mint coins of very low weight with his name in Moscow.
But, being proud of the history of my people, I want to reflect the following data in my work: in Yaroslavl, in the orders of the people's militia under the leadership of Minin and Pozharsky, in contrast to the coins of the interventionists, coins were minted with the name of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, who died back in 1598, the last "legitimate tsar" of the Rurik dynasty.
And in 1613, after the election of Mikhail Romanov to the throne, the former monetary system was restored.
But not a single gram of "coin" silver was mined on the territory of the Moscow state itself: the industrial development of silver will begin in Russia only in the XVII century.
Precious metals were purchased from foreigners, melting thalers, stamps, pennies, as well as dishes and other silver utensils at mints in Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov and Tver.
The treasury clung tenaciously to the state monopoly on all operations with gold and silver; any attempt to export them abroad was considered as smuggling, for which they were punished with special severity.
Another scourge of the Old Moscow financial system was counterfeiters.
There were an extremely large number of them in the XVI – XVII centuries, and even representatives of the highest nobility, the boyars, who were able to put the "case" on a grand scale, did not shy away from criminal intent.
The masters of the mints themselves stole; even beggars were served as counterfeiters.
They beat a tin coin, a low grade silver, even a copper one – after all, only a lazy person could not forge the nondescript Old Moscow kopecks.
Sometimes foreigners also came to Russia with their "crafts": Russian Russian Polish coins were minted for a long time by the neighbors of the Moscow state, on which the nominal value was indicated in Russian and Polish for clarity: "15 kopecks" and "1 zloty" or, for example, "3/4 ruble" and "5 zloty".
For a long time, the neighbors of the Moscow state arranged "economic sabotage", for a long time they minted Russian Polish coins, on which the nominal value was indicated in Russian and in Polish: "15 kopecks" and "1 zloty" or, for example, "3/4 ruble" and "5 zloty".
The mint in Helsingfors (now Helsinki) issued Russian Finnish pennies and stamps, on which Finland's belonging to Russia was indicated by a double headed eagle and the monograms of the ruling operators, transmitted in Latin letters.
The Russian Georgian coins (they were minted in Tiflis, as the city of Tbilisi was then called) did not have any Russian symbols at all.
Next, I want to present the materials of research on the further development of the money system in the Russian Empire.
In 1654, the minting of large denominations began — rubles, half coins, half coins, altyns, since small coins were inconvenient for large trade settlements.
Rubles were minted from silver, half coins similar to them from copper, half coins - from silver; then the so — called "efimki with a sign" appeared—Western European thalers with a penny stamp and the date 1655.
The population was reluctant to use this unusual money for them, it was difficult to mint them.
Soon, the minting of copper kopecks begins, which in appearance did not differ from silver ones.
Copper kopecks were equated to silver by the order of the government.
In 1663, the government canceled the new money as a result of the "copper revolt".
The minting of silver kopecks, money and polushki resumed.
Only at the beginning of the XVIII century, under Peter I, Russian coins were finally changed.
From 1700 to 1704, silver rubles, half— rubles, half halves, hryvnia, altyns, copper kopecks, half halves and half halves began to be minted.
Chervonets were minted from gold.
They were minted not from wire, as in the XIV XVII centuries, but on special coin blanks mugs.
In 1756 – 1757, the Baltic provinces of Russia received their own coins, which went down in history under the name "Livonese".
That's when there was a truly bizarre mixing of two completely different coin systems!
"Livonez" were issued in denominations of 96, 48, 24, 4 and 2 kopecks; all inscriptions on them were made in Latin letters, and the coats of arms of the Baltic states the provinces were adjacent to the portrait of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and the Russian double headed eagle.
I think that the monetary system of the Russian Empire was flexible and was well able to adapt to the conditions of current politics.
From that time to the present day, the system of counting has been preserved (100 kopecks make up the ruble) and the names of the main monetary units (our ruble, fifty kopecks — 50 kopecks, five — kopecks — 15 kopecks, dime 10 kopecks, kopeck).
In this form, the Russian monetary system existed without any special changes until the XX century.
*2.
* * 6 Leather Money*
In this paper, exploring the stages of the development of money, it is impossible not to note such a type of money as leather.
Only in the XIX century, thanks to the success of archeology and numismatics, historical science received some idea of the wealth of Ancient Russia in precious metals.
"It may not be easy to believe what I am now offering.
It is too contrary to the usual opinion about the state of ancient Russia, " wrote the numismatist F. I. Krug in 1805, who was the first to oppose the usual views on the Old Russian economy and proved the possibility of the existence of metal circulation and even his own Russian coin in the X XI centuries.
In the Russian chronicle of the middle of the XVII century.
for the first time and without the slightest reliance on the ancient chronicle, the statement appeared that in Russia the oldest money was leather money.
I managed to find out that leather money as the first money of Ancient Rome was mentioned in a Byzantine lexicon of the tenth century, which was familiar to Moscow literates of the XVII century: a Russian translation of it is available in the list of the second half of the century.
At that time, there was an increased interest in all kinds of "Roman antiquities" in Moscow, since it was seriously proved that the Moscow sovereigns were direct descendants of the Roman caesars.
Reports about leather money of different peoples were found in the Western European historiography of that time, which found a special taste in reports of a more or less anecdotal, striking order.
I will note another characteristic feature of the ancient historical and cognitive thinking: the desire to elevate the accidental (real or imaginary) to the rank of the universal.
Russian Russian historians remained completely unknown to the coinage of the oldest Russian coins and the intensive circulation of foreign coins and silver ingots in Russia in the second half of the XVIII century, when they, trying to explain the numerous references to various payment units of antiquity found in chronicles and ancient acts, created theory No. 1 about leather money that supposedly existed as a universal means of payment starting from ancient times and up to the beginning of the coinage of Russian coins in the XIV century, and even almost until the end of the XVII century.
It was claimed that these were various scraps of fur and stamped pieces of leather, which replaced various fur bearing animal skins, conditionally representing their value.
The flourishing of this theory was not a little facilitated by the fact that in 1769 paper money - banknotes first appeared in Russian circulation.
So, during the XIX century.
the theory of Russian universal leather money grew into a rather impressive, although vague in terms of historical and geographical specificity, teaching.
As the scientific positions of archeology and numismatics strengthened, he had to pass certain frontiers from time to time mainly in the field of relatively late monetary circulation of the XV XVII centuries.
But even in the second half of the XIX century, when the myth of the impoverished economy of Ancient Russia was thoroughly deprived of confidence by the efforts of numismatists and archaeologists, the theory of leather money still looked solid and penetrated even into Western European historiography, and not always in its best, most cautious versions.
Even some Russian numismatists tried to somehow reconcile its provisions with their data.
Leather money - furs.
A constant reserve, and at times almost an independent side current of this theory, was the doctrine of the payment function of furs - "fur money".
In itself, it cannot cause objections until, contrary to the facts, it begins to claim uniqueness and universality for the whole of Ancient Russia with its various historical and geographical zones.
In the light of this teaching, various payment terms of the chronicles received more or less justified or arbitrary interpretations.
Kuna is in all cases only the fur of a marten, nogata is a fur skin with legs, cut cut skin, etc .
Leather money is "banknotes".
Supporters of leather banknotes often turned to this reserve, admitting, to tell the truth, great stretches of a commodity related nature.
For them, the skin, i.e., the skin of an animal, preserved together with the wool covering, which is the main value, sometimes did not differ in any way from the skin, i.e., a completely different "commodity".
They were especially willing to introduce a fur flap into the assortment of leather money.
Mortka was a head cut off from the skin, and the ears were not even bypassed: even in the XIX century.
the origin of the name of the coin "polushka" from the ear was proved.
Of course, in addition to such purely anecdotal interpretations, there were also quite serious arguments and references to ancient monuments of writing.
The main direction of the theory was for a long time"assignation".
His persuasiveness was strongly supported by the so called leather lots of the second half and the end of the XVII century that have come down to our time, to which we will return below, and the "historical evidence" of the XIII century was of fundamental importance.
- notes of the traveler Rubruk in Latin.
Their translation into French was made back in the XVII century and stated that in the South Russian steppes, multicolored pieces of leather served as money.
The correctness of the translation was not in doubt until the beginning of our century, until a new translation showed that Rubruk wrote "only about various varieties of furs.
Historians of the beginning of the XIX century, who were well acquainted with the" blue "and" red "(the popular name of banknotes), somehow managed to convince themselves quite imperceptibly that there were even seals on the" colorful pieces of leather".
Meanwhile, the" data " of Rubruk was supplemented by very difficult to interpret Latin documents from the time of the Russian Hanseatic trade, in which the "capita martarorum" (literally, "heads of martens") and the notes of Gilbert de Lannois, which became known in the middle of the XIX century, who spent several days in Novgorod and Pskov in 1412, appeared as a payment value.
His essay said that large Russian payments are made in silver bars, and the "coins" were the "heads" of martens and squirrels.
In both cases, the main thing, the main thing for us, seems to be reduced to the specific meanings of the word "caput".
In conclusion of this chapter, I want to note that leather money is worn fur.
In the first quarter of the XIX century, the third trend of the theory of leather money was born, based on an ever increasing range of publications of translations of the works of Arab geographers.
A well known feature of medieval literature was the compilation principle, which elevated to the highest merit of the scientist the retelling of everything that was written on this subject before him.
Therefore, the abundance of homogeneous reports about Ancient Russia cannot be overestimated even if it is known that individual authors themselves met with those they wrote about on the borders of the mysterious northern country or even visited its territory.
Historical facts and fiction are intertwined in these works in the most bizarre way.
It should also be said that these works, copied in ancient times by scribes, have come down to us in more or less recent lists of the most difficult Arabic writing, in which such a misprint as missing a dot or blotting in the form of a curl, etc., is enough to completely change the meaning.
Without interpretation and assumptions, the translation of these sources is completely impossible at all.
*III* *.
The history of paper money in Russia and the USSR*
*3.
* * 1 The appearance of paper money*
In this section, I will explore the material about the history of paper money in Russia and the USSR.
The emergence of paper money in Russia and their development before the reform of the WitteIdea of issuing banknotes in Russia arose in the 40s of the XVIII century during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1761), but it was rejected by the Senate, which found it reprehensible that "pieces of paper"would go into circulation instead of money.
After the accession of Peter III to the throne in 1761 (1728-1762), the state treasury was empty, and therefore in May 1762 a decree was published on the issue of bank notes replacing metal money in circulation, which read: "If ... there are no monetary sums, since the most important and necessary methods are not available, and the 4 million found by the Senate for emergency expenses cannot be received so soon, then His Imperial Majesty finds a convenient and closest means in making bank notes."
The decree set out the plan for the creation and the basis for the activities of the State Bank.
Tickets in denominations of 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 rubles were prepared, but their release was prevented by a coup organized by the emperor's wife, as a result of which Peter III was killed, and Catherine II (1729-1796) was elevated to the throne.
Interestingly, the "convenient and nearest means" of receiving money was not forgotten for a long time.
Six years later, the manifesto of Catherine II of December 29, 1768 announced: "We are pleased to begin the establishment of exchange banks in our Empire and hope that through this we are providing a new sign of maternal care for all our subjects."
On January 1, 1769, two banks were established: one in St. Petersburg, the other in Moscow with a fixed capital of 50,000 rubles in copper each.
The banks were entrusted with the exchange of copper money for g government banknotes of four denominations: 25, 50, 75 and 100 rubles.
They were printed in black ink on white paper with watermarks.
In St. Petersburg and Moscow, private individuals were required to make at least one 25 ruble assignation for every 500 rubles of state payments.
I would like to note that the issue of banknotes was motivated by the fact that "the burden of a copper coin, which approves its own price, also burdens its circulation."
But more essential
the main reason was the need to find funds for the conduct of the Russian Turkish war.
According to the plan of the Prosecutor General of the Senate, Prince A. A. Vyazemsky, it was supposed to issue banknotes in the amount of 2.5 million rubles under the security of a change fund of 2 million rubles and, thus, use 500 thousand rubles to cover state expenses.
Banknotes were initially popular, thanks to which banks were able to charge ¼ - ½ % in their favor for exchanging copper money for them.
In 1772-1788, in addition to St. Petersburg and Moscow, copper money was exchanged for banknotes in 22 other cities.
There, through special exchange offices, an unhindered exchange of banknotes for copper money was carried out.
I think that with the economic development in the country, banknotes have made it possible to replace copper money that is extremely inconvenient for transportation and storage.
In addition, copper money was not enough in the conditions of the revived trade turnover.
In addition, the assignats partially had the so called tax security (they were accepted as state payments).
But the ease and convenience of making banknotes led to the fact that their number began to grow rapidly and non stop.
By 1786, there were banknotes in circulation in the amount of 46,219,250 rubles.
Nevertheless, the exchange rate of banknotes remained stable (not lower than 98-99%).
In 1786, Count I. I. Shuvalov developed a plan to replenish the treasury, proposing to increase the issue of banknotes to 100 million rubles and link their circulation with credit operations, which, in his opinion, should ensure the purchasing power of banknotes.
It was assumed that 17.5 million would be used to issue mortgage loans (i.e., secured by real estate) to the nobility for a period of 20 years at 8% per annum, 11 million to cities for construction at 7% per annum with a return in 22 years, 4 million for the expenses of the tsar's cabinet, 2.5 million rubles for the reinforcement of the state treasury and 15 million rubles.
they will remain in case of war.
I want to acquaint you with the following information: on June 28, 1786, in pursuance of Shuvalov's plan, a manifesto was issued, which ordered the old banknotes (former issues) to be exchanged for new ones, and the entire issue to be increased to 100 million rubles.
Such an increase in the number of banknotes was motivated by a lack of money in circulation that supports "trade, needlework, crafts and agriculture", and it was solemnly assured "by the sanctity of the tsar's word for us and the successors of the imperial throne" that the amount of banknotes in circulation will never exceed 100 million rubles.
At the same time, the manifesto announced the formation of one (instead of two) assignation bank.
In other words, the government had in mind to create a state issue bank, the issue of tickets of which would be limited to 100 million rubles.
For the right to issue a certain part of bank notes (banknotes), the bank had to transfer to the government an interest free (and partly irrevocable) loan.
The State Bank was allowed to perform the following commercial operations:
1) accounting of bills of exchange;
2) acceptance of contracts and purchase of copper;
3) operations related to foreign trade (the release of copper abroad, the purchase and sale of gold and silver, the transfer of capital, etc.).
New banknotes were issued for
