All about Russian money. I offer some interesting facts about the ruble that will be interesting for everyone to know.

End of XIII - beginning of XIV century

Means of payment - silver bars, from which the ruble originated. There are several versions of the origin of the name. Here are two of the most famous:

The silver bar was called the hryvnia. To create a smaller means of payment, it was divided into 4 parts by notches. Each such part was called a ruble from the word "cut".

AiF collage

The silver bar was called the ruble. And the name comes from the seam on the edge of the ingot (the root "rub" means "edge, seam"), which arose due to the fact that during the ebb the silver was poured into the mold in two steps.

1654 g.

The first coin with the inscription "ruble". It was minted from European thalers. On the obverse there is a two-headed eagle, on the reverse - a king on a horse.

Ruble 1654 Photo: RIA Novosti / Collage AIF

1704 g.

The first silver ruble minted in Russia. From now on, on the front side is the portrait of the sovereign.

Ruble of Peter I. Photo: RIA Novosti / Collage AIF

1769 g.

The first paper money. Appeared because to pay copper coin it was extremely uncomfortable. 100 rubles weighed 6 pounds, or 96 kg!

25 rubles. Photo: Public Domain

1897-1914

The era of the golden ruble. 1 RUB - 0.774235 g of gold. Paper notes were freely exchanged for precious metals.

1 ruble 1898 Photo: Public Domain

2013 g.

The ruble has its own sign. In 2014, 100 million ruble coins with this symbol were issued.

Photo: RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev

The best of the best...

... beautiful rubles

Pre-revolutionary "katenka" (100 rubles) with a portrait Catherine II and "petenki" with Peter I(RUB 500). Recognized as masterpieces. One "petenka" is two annual salaries of a Russian worker in 1910. This money is almost three times more than modern banknotes.

100 rubles of the State Bank Russian Empire... Photo: Public Domain

... cheap rubles

"Kerenki" (from the surname A. Kerensky) were in circulation from 1917 to 1921. Inflation was then so high that money did not have time to print. The salary was given out in sheets so that people cut out the bills themselves. By the way, the most expensive was the gold ruble. But even then, it cost half the dollar.

Kerenka. Photo: Public Domain

... sexy rubles

Russian hundred rublevka. Don't believe me? Take a closer look. Manhood Apollo on the visor of the Bolshoi Theater, which is depicted on the bill, is not covered, as usual, with a fig leaf, but is put on public display.

... heavy rubles

5 kg gold coin... It was issued by the Bank of Russia in 2010. The denomination of such a coin is 50 thousand rubles, but it costs several times more. You can pay with this coin even in a store, even in a restaurant, but it is clear that no one would ever think of this. There are only 50 such coins in the world!

A five-kilogram gold coin (999 standard) with a denomination of 50,000 rubles, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Bank of Russia, in a museum in the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Astapkovich

... legendary rubles

The famous Soviet chervonets. They say that "the father of Soviet money" is the chief artist of Goznak Ivan Dubasov I saw a photo of the leader full-face and in profile even before the revolution in a magazine announcement of the wanted German spy Ulyanov-Lenin... The artist remembered the profile of Ilyich so much that he placed it on ten-ruble bills of the 1961 model.

As one of the major world currencies, the Russian ruble is money with a long history. Of course, there is little that connects it with historical gold rubles, except for the name, but this is quite enough to claim that it is older than many other currencies. Times go by, coins and banknotes replace each other, but the ruble still takes its place in the world economic arena.

1. It got its name once when the first "coins" were made by chopping off pieces from silver ingots.
2. Worldwide, the Russian ruble, used since the 13th century, is the second oldest currency. Only the English pound is older than it.
3. The Russian ruble is used as the official currency not only in the Russian Federation, but also in partially recognized states - in Abkhazia and South Ossetia (see).
4. The name "ruble" is used only in two countries - in Russia and Belarus.
5. In 1991-1993, the Russian ruble was in circulation along with the Soviet one.
6. Since 2012, coins in denominations of 1 and 5 kopecks are no longer produced, since their production costs more than they actually cost.
7. The modern symbol of the Russian ruble was approved in 2013.
8. Ruble coins that were minted during the reign of Peter I were almost 100% silver. Therefore, they were valuable, but rather bland.
9. Until the 20th century, the word “chervonets” meant not ten rubles, but three.
10. In the early 60s, the value of the ruble was almost equal to a gram of gold, and was a much more expensive currency than the US dollar (see).
11. There are monuments to the Russian ruble in Tomsk and Dimitrovgrad.
12. The first ruble symbol was invented in the 17th century. It consisted of the letters "P" and "U" superimposed on each other.
13. The historical Russian ruble was a 200-gram piece of silver cut off from a 2-kilogram bar called the hryvnia.
14. It was the Russian ruble that became the first currency in the world, in 1704 equated to a certain number of other coins. In this case, one ruble was equated to 100 kopecks.
15. At the end of the 19th century, Russia could well have been left without the ruble if the reform proposed by S. Witte had been adopted. He believed that it was worth replacing the usual rubles with new coin called "rus".
16. The modern Russian ruble, unlike the Soviet one, has no gold equivalent.
17. Russian banknotes, taken out of circulation, including due to dilapidation, are used as recyclable materials for the production of roofing material.
18. Before the use of the ruble in Ancient Russia, mainly foreign coins, mainly European ones, were in use.
19. Catherine II for the first time in Russia introduced paper money. Before Russian rubles existed only in the form of coins.
20. The Central Bank of Russia issues gold coins with a face value of 10 thousand rubles every year. Each such coin consists of a kilogram of gold, and naturally costs more than its face value. In fact, it is just a gold bar. However, these coins also have legal tender status.

In Russian history, and in Soviet history too, there are many interesting facts about money and coins. When did they start minting their own money in Russia? When did paper money appear in Russia? The largest and smallest, most expensive and most unnecessary coins. From which, in addition to paper and metal, money was made in Russia. If convicts have their own currency? Why is the "sower" golden? You will learn all this from this article.

• Russia has its own first money were introduced immediately after the adoption of Christianity in the X century. Before that, in the country, as a means of payment, foreign coins were used: from of Eastern Europe and the countries of the Middle East. Russia urgently needed its own national currency.

Byzantine gold and silver coins were taken as a basis. It is noteworthy that gold coins were immediately exported abroad, and silver coins most often began to be counterfeited using various non-precious alloys.

• Smallest coin in the world half (or half money). Its face value was 1/4 of a kopeck, and its weight was 0.17 grams.

• The largest and heaviest coin in the history of Russia it was produced in 1725. The weight of the coin was as much as 1.6 kg. The coin itself was made of copper, measuring 18x18 cm and 5 mm thick. The denomination, oddly enough, the coin had only 1 ruble.

• In history modern Russia the largest is the silver coin issued by the Bank of Russia in 1999. Weight, neither more nor less, as much as 3 kg. And although its face value was only 10 thousand rubles, its real value is hundreds of times higher.

• Waste money. In 1825, after the death of Emperor Alexander I, his eldest son Constantine was to take the throne. Coins were struck with the image of the new Emperor. They only waited for the coronation, after which the coins can be officially put into circulation. But at the last moment, the heir renounced the throne in favor of his younger brother Nicholas. All the coins had to be urgently sent for melting.

Constantine ruble of 1825

• Most expensive money in Russia made of gold. They are issued annually by the Central Bank. Each coin weighs exactly 1 kg. The denomination is 10,000 rubles. And although they are legal tender, the coins are immediately bought up by banks and collectors.

• Leather money. In Alaska at the beginning of the 19th century (then Alaska still belonged to Russia) money was printed from sealskin. 10,000 copies of such money were printed (or made) for the amount of about 50,000 rubles. Money was in circulation on a par with official Russian money for almost 2 decades. Now such leather money is the dream of numismatists. They are readily bought, and by a weight equivalent to the value of gold of the same weight.

• In post-war Russia, in order to strengthen confidence in the banknotes of the new country in 1923, they began to issue gold ducats - "sower"... Each coin contained 7.2 grams of pure gold. Coins were issued right up to 1982. The only coin that was willingly accepted by all countries of the world as a means of payment. Now the cost of such a coin on the market is about 150 - 300 thousand rubles.

Gold ducat 1923

• First paper money appeared in Russia by decree of Catherine the Great. 25, 50, 75 and 100 ruble bills were printed. Immediately after the release, the first forgeries began. Counterfeiters simply corrected one figure in 25 ruble bills, immediately receiving 75 rubles. Fearing to undermine confidence in the new type of money among the population, Catherine did not pursue counterfeiters. All 75-ruble banknotes (real and fake) were simply withdrawn from circulation and destroyed.

100 rubles of Catherine the Great

• Few people know, but in Soviet Russia, in parallel with the rubles, there were also the so-called “ birch money... They could be used to buy goods in the famous Beryozka store, where you could buy scarce goods. And although the resale of such money was considered speculation at that time (15 years in camps with confiscation of property), the demand for it was simply frantic. They bought at a rate 5-10 times higher than the official one.

• In places not so remote, prisoners were not allowed to have money on hand. Then their own camp money that only went there. The administration of the camps exchanged Soviet rubles from the prisoners for camp money, and at a "special" overvalued rate, thereby getting a good fat on the exchange.

On December 29, 1768, Empress Catherine II issued a manifesto on the founding of two bank notes and the issuance of paper notes. At the same time, the nickname for the ruble "wooden" must have appeared. The history of banknotes is incredibly fascinating and full of interesting facts.

"Money is paper"?
The first paper money in Russia could appear even under Elizaveta Petrovna. The Seven Years' War was going on, copper was required primarily for casting cannons, and not for minting coins. But Elizaveta Petrovna was dissuaded from the plan. Elizabeth's nephew Peter III was not lucky: he had already issued a decree “On the establishment of the State Bank,” but a palace coup took place three days before the opening of the bank.

Catherine II managed to put paper notes into circulation. White paper with watermarks was made at the Krasnoselsk paper mill. The watermark was a letter frame, which could be read in the light: at the top - "love for the Fatherland", at the bottom - "works for the benefit of the onago", and on the sides - "State Treasury". The corners were decorated with the coats of arms of the kingdoms: Astrakhan, Moscow, Kazan and Siberian.

Insidious Napoleon
Until the Patriotic War of 1812, the processing of banknotes remained so simple that counterfeiting was widely practiced. There is evidence that even the insidious Napoleon issued counterfeit Russian banknotes. What for?

I didn’t want to leave my soldiers with empty wallets in Russia in case no one gave them their goods for free. According to legend, the French hid the machine for making counterfeit banknotes at the Preobrazhensky cemetery in Moscow.

Brutov ruble
A cashier named Brutus signed banknotes from 1898-1910, including a ruble denomination. An avid gambler, Brutus in 1914 lost a large sum of state money at cards, got upset and hanged himself. At the beginning of 1915, everyone in Russia indulged in gambling.

Among superstitious gamblers, it is believed that the noose or personal item of the hanged man brings good luck in the game. Then everyone believed that the ruble with the signature of Brutus was "happy" and began a "hunt for the banknote." The rate of the "Brutus ruble" has grown so much that the government had to intervene.

Swastika
It is no secret that the symbol-cross with curved ends has long been loved in Russia, until in the twentieth century they began to use it as a symbol of Nazism. In Russia, the swastika first appeared in official symbols in 1917 - when the Provisional Government issued new banknotes in denominations of 250 and 1000 rubles - they were popularly called Kerenkos. On the 250-ruble note, the swastika was hidden in the center behind the eagle.

It is interesting that on the front side of the banknote there was also a Buddhist “Knot of Infinity.” The first Soviet banknotes also had a swastika - passed, so to speak, by inheritance. People have come to associate them with an unnecessary piece of paper that even the last beggar on the street will not pick up.

One pood of bread banknote
1921 year. Hunger, rampant hyperinflation of Soviet rubles. The Kiev Natursoyuz "Reason and Conscience", headed by engineer M. Kalina, issues settlement checks, "tied" to the hardest currency in the hungry years - "1 pood of bread".

"A ruble of labor - a pound of bread" - this was the inscription on a paper check, which was supposed to mark the transition to socialism and the abolition of the monetary system. But not a single pound of bread was given for the checks received. "Reason and Conscience" soon disappeared.

Solovki
A lot of indignation among knowledgeable people caused back side modern banknote of 500 rubles. It depicts the Solovetsky Monastery, the main historical and architectural landmark of the Arkhangelsk region. But on the banknote the monastery appears in a disfigured form.

Dilapidated, without domes and crosses, this is how it was when the special purpose camp (ELEPHANT) was on Solovki. In addition, geographic inconsistencies are noticeable in the figure. Simply put, the artist fantasized. For the best protection, banknotes are often updated, improved, but the unsuccessful design is not touched.

5000 rubles
And on the largest modern Russian bill of 5,000 rubles, we see the city of Khabarovsk. On the front side there is a monument to the Governor-General eastern Siberia, to Count Nikolai Nikolaevich Muravyov-Amursky. Nikolai Nikolaevich returned to us Cupid, who was then on the territory of China. Muravyov received the title of Count of Amur for the conclusion of the contract.

The reverse side of the bill depicts the Tsarsky bridge across the Amur, called the "Amur miracle". It was built incredibly quickly, and even during the First World War, and then it became the longest bridge in the Old World. The bill is protected from counterfeiting by micro-holes on the number "5000", magnetic and luminescent elements, a security gray thread, watermarks, embossed inscriptions, seven stripes of microtext, but it is still counterfeited more often than other bills.

Many things seem so familiar to us that we do not even ask ourselves where it came from. Below I present to your attention 10 interesting facts about money - about "evil, without which you still cannot live." Let's find out why dollars are exactly green, piggy banks in most cases are in the form of a pig, and whether the ruble has always been a currency in Russia. So...

This 20 billion German mark can be called one of the largest denominations in the world. In 1923, after the war and revolution in Germany, banknotes became worthless. Bank clerks simply lost their minds from a huge number of zeros. Money was given in batches to children for games or used in pasting walls

In ancient China, it was believed that money would be useful to the deceased "in the next world." Therefore, conscientious relatives often burned wads of money, thus sending "money transfers" to their deceased loved ones.

Banknotes are just pieces of paper. But they were equated with money, since replaced real money in circulation. The Chinese were the first to understand the advantages of banknotes. In the 10th century, the Chinese government issued heavy iron coins of low purchasing power. People left them with the merchants and used the receipts they received in return. Later, the government deprived merchants of the right to issue receipts and printed receipts itself, which officially replaced banknotes and simplified payments.

The world's largest banknote measured 22 x 38 cm and was also circulated in China. Often the number of coins they replaced was drawn on banknotes. often the image reached thousands of coins, with a total weight of several kilograms. Not surprisingly, the Chinese have come up with paper money.

Why are piggy banks made in the form of a pig?
V English language the term "piggy bank" sounds like a Pigg bank. The word "pygg" in Old England meant one of the varieties of ginger clay. Perhaps the money was kept in such clay
pots.

The world's largest piggy bank in the form of a pig was presented to fellow citizens in the form of a gift for the 137th Day of Canada by the Royal Canadian mint... The giant pig, which measures 4 m in height and 5.5 m in length, is intended to collect charitable funds. It is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

In 1796, during the revolution, the French realized that they had printed too much money, which was rapidly losing purchasing power. A way out was found quickly - the printing presses were broken, and the money was burned.

In 1923, in Italy, by order of King Victor Emmanuel III, a bunch of twigs - fascin was printed on 2 lira coins. Later, supporters of the party, which considered this symbol their own, began to be called fascists.

The ruble as the currency of Russia appeared after the monetary reform of 1654. The first "ruble" coins were minted from European thalers. Before this ruble denomination simply did not exist, and the word "ruble" was used only as a counting concept, meaning "100 kopecks".

The reason why the dollar turned green is curious. In 1869, the US Treasury first began printing dollars using green ink. The reason for the innovation is the emergence of photography: old-style banknotes, made in black paint, where only green was applied at the edges, it became very easy to reproduce in a photographic way. Since green dye was already used in the manufacture of dollars, there was no need to select colors and buy new dyes. In this regard, the already existing green color began to be used in large quantities. V last years dollar bills again acquired new colors - shades of yellow and pink.