Zlatniks and silver coins of type I. Ancient coins. How did Zlatnik appear?

“Where did the money circulation in Rus' come from?” What are its origins? What were the first Russian coins? For a long time, until the end of the 18th century, these questions had no answer. The first coin of Ancient Rus' was found in Kyiv in 1796. The following year, another one was found there. And although it was established that both coins seemed to relate to the reign of princes Vladimir the Saint and Yaroslav the Wise, many scientists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were skeptical about this fact. It was argued that these were not coins, but some kind of medals, or that they belonged to a later period - the time of the reign of Vladimir Monomakh (d. 1125), and in the 10th century there could be no minting of coins.

In 1852, a treasure with two hundred pieces of silver from Vladimir was found while plowing in Nizhyn, and a few years later more than a hundred early coins were found in Kyiv. Other discoveries followed. Thus, the fact of the existence of ancient Russian coins of the 10th-11th centuries became immutable. Currently, about 340 silver coins, conventionally called silver coins, and 11 gold coins, or zlatniks, are known. The terms “srebrenik” and “zlatnik” are purely academic. It is unknown what their contemporaries called them. The name of the gold coins was borrowed from the treaty between Rus' and Byzantium in 945, and the silver ones - from the Ipatiev Chronicle of the early 15th century. In the first case, the use of the term refers to the time when coins were not yet minted, and in the second, when they were no longer minted - the Ipatiev Chronicle mentions pieces of silver, telling about the events of the beginning of the 12th century.

The emission was started in Kyiv by Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (952-1015) shortly after his adoption of Christianity in 988. This is evidenced by the images of Jesus Christ on all types of silver and gold coins, as well as the ubiquitous image of the cross in the hands of the prince as a symbol of Christianity. Before this, various foreign coins were in circulation in Rus'.

Zlatnik Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. Beginning XI century

The emergence of independent coinage was a consequence of lively relations with Byzantium, which led to the assimilation of the provisions of Roman-Byzantine law, which saw the main expression of the autocratic power of the ruler in the issue of coins in his name.

Zlatniks were minted for a little over ten years - until the end of the 10th century, silver coins were also minted in the 11th century, both by Vladimir and his short-term (1019) successor on the grand princely throne Svyatopolk. Two more groups of Old Russian coins represent a separate type. This is, firstly, “Yaroslavl silver” - silver pieces of Yaroslav Vladimirovich the Wise, issued by him in Novgorod, which he held until he took the Kyiv throne. Secondly, these are silver coins minted around 1078 in the Tmutarakan principality on Taman, ruled there by Oleg-Mikhail.

Treasures and individual finds of ancient Russian coins are found not only on the vast territory of Kievan Rus, but also far beyond its borders - in Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Poland and Germany. However, this fact does not yet give the right to attribute a significant role to silver coins in Russian monetary circulation. They could not meet the needs of the economy and monetary circulation in coins due to the short duration of minting and the insignificance of issues, as well as their low quality. About three-quarters of all tested silver coins have a fineness below 500, that is, they are not actually silver coins. A significant part of the coins are minted from an alloy with an insignificant amount of silver. It is noteworthy that only high-grade silver pieces were found in the hoards of Eastern and Western European coins

Srebrenik of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. Beginning XI century

The size of the silver pieces is the same as most dirhams (an Arab coin that circulated in Rus' in the 7th-10th centuries), but unlike the latter, they were minted not on specially cut circles, but on blanks made in double-sided molds. The minting technique was very low. The instability of coin stamps led to their rapid change, and frequent and not always skillful copying of stamps distorted the inscriptions beyond recognition. The stamps were probably bronze and looked like tongs. Such stamps were known in Rus' even before the start of coinage - they were used to imprint hanging lead seals. At a later time they were called “pincers”. The small number of coins struck with a single pair of dies indicates that the dies were quickly destroyed.

In comparison with European coins of that time, Russian silver coins and zlatnik coins do not look barbaric. The first Russian coins are very different in the skill of the carvers and the artistic design of their stamps - along with crudely executed drawings and illiterate inscriptions, there are coins of fine, elegant work, such as, for example, “Yaroslavl silver”.

Silver coins with the name of Vladimir (more than 250 copies) are divided into four types. For coins of the first type, the obverse side is characterized by an image of a prince sitting on a throne in a hat decorated with pendants and crowned with a cross; in the prince's right hand there is a cross on a long shaft, above the left shoulder there is a princely sign in the form of a trident. There is a circular inscription around the image, readable from right to left: VLADIMIR ON THE TABLE. The tops of the letters face the center of the coin. There is a beaded rim along the edge.

Another version of this type of coin has a legend on the obverse: VLADIMIR AND BE HIS SILVER. Among the approved coins of this type (about a third), only four specimens have a purity of 875-800, the rest are actually silver coins with a slight admixture of copper. Coins of the first type were apparently issued simultaneously with zlatniks. Their uniformity speaks to this. The stamps were cut by at least five master carvers. According to the characteristics of the legend and images, they constitute four subgroups, which were minted, if not simultaneously, then in a very small chronological range. The famous Kiev silver hoard of 1876 consisted of coins of this type.

On the obverse of the coins of the second type there is also an image of a prince sitting on a throne. A halo, previously unknown, appears around his head. An image of the throne also appears, as if illustrating the first part of the inscription on the same side: VLADIMIR IS ON THE TABLE. On the reverse side, the image of Jesus Christ is replaced by the image of a princely sign, the so-called trident (the name was proposed by N.M. Karamzin in his “History of the Russian State”). The legend on the reverse side: AND BE HIS SILVER completes the inscription on the front side. There is a beaded rim around the image (sometimes double). The prince's clothes are decorated with beads and resemble chain mail. Reading the inscriptions on coins of this type is extremely difficult, since in most cases they are a meaningless set of letter-shaped characters. This circumstance even gave rise to hypotheses that the inscriptions on the coins were made in some unknown, pre-Christian, pre-Cyrillic alphabet.

Most of these coins are of low quality, like silver pieces of the first type. Chronologically, this type replaces the first, which follows from the fact that silver pieces of the first type were re-coined with dies of the second, as well as from observations of the composition of the treasures. The probable time of issue is the first fifteen years of the 11th century. Most of the coins of the second type come from the already mentioned Nezhinsky treasure (near Kyiv) of 1852.

There are 57 known copies of coins of the third type, which are distinguished according to the following characteristics: generally repeating the images of the second type on both sides, they are distinguished by the absence of a halo around the prince’s head, a careful depiction of the throne (a chair with a high and wide back), the inclination of the cross (on all other coins it depicted directly) and, finally, with the almost absolute correctness and completeness of the writing of the legend: VLADIMIR IS ON THE TABLE AND THIS IS HIS SILVER. Some elements of the design go back to the first type of coins. There are examples that come from different stamps of one of the parties. The coins of this one are also of low quality. Cases of reminting coins of the second type with stamps of the third type make it possible to establish their relative chronology.

There are 25 known coins of the fourth type. In general, they repeat the compositions of silver pieces of the second and third types on both sides, differing from them in the correctness of the design and the careful execution of the stamps. Apparently, all the stamps for coins of this type were made by one master, with the only exception of an example that was made carelessly and ineptly.

Among the coins of this type, there was a specimen with a unique inscription: VLADIMERE SREBR - SVATAGO VASILA. The Christian baptismal name of Vladimir Vasily is well known. The content of the legend is similar to the form of the inscription on the coins of Yaroslav Vladimirovich, and this sheds light on their general chronology. Mixing of compositions of images and legends, as a rule, occurs only when mixing coin types. Coins of this type depict two types of princely headdress: a high Russian cap and a low cap with a cross on top, repeating the theme of the emperors from the Byzantine coins of Basil II and Constantine VIII. This is seen as a symbolic hint of the equality of the Russian Grand Duke to the Byzantine emperors.

(c) Magazine Antik.info

Before the appearance of their own coins, Roman denarii, Arab dirhams, and Byzantine solidi were in circulation in Rus'. In addition, it was possible to pay the seller with fur. From all these things the first Russian coins arose.

Serebryanik

The first coin minted in Rus' was called a silver coin. Even before the baptism of Rus', during the reign of Prince Vladimir, it was cast from silver Arab dirhams, of which there was an acute shortage in Rus'. Moreover, there were two designs of silver coins. At first, they copied the image of the Byzantine solidi coins: on the front side there was an image of a prince sitting on a throne, and on the back - Pantocrator, i.e. Jesus Christ. Soon, silver money underwent a redesign: instead of the face of Christ, the Rurikovich family sign - a trident - began to be minted on coins, and around the portrait of the prince there was a legend: “Vladimir is on the table, and this is his silver” (“Vladimir is on the throne, and this is his money”).

Zlatnik

Along with the silver coin, Prince Vladimir minted similar gold coins - zlatniki or zolotniki. They were also made in the manner of Byzantine solidi and weighed about four grams. Despite the fact that there were very few of them in number - a little more than a dozen zlatniks have survived to this day - their name is firmly entrenched in popular sayings and proverbs: a zlotnik is small, but it is heavy. The spool is small, but it weighs gold, the camel is large, but it carries water. Not a share in pounds, a share in spools. Trouble comes in pounds and goes away in gold.

Hryvnia

At the turn of the 9th - 10th centuries, a completely domestic monetary unit appeared in Rus' - the hryvnia. The first hryvnias were weighty bars of silver and gold, which were more of a weight standard than money - they could be used to measure the weight of the precious metal. Kyiv hryvnias weighed about 160 grams and were shaped like a hexagonal ingot, while Novgorod hryvnias were a long bar weighing about 200 grams. Moreover, hryvnias were also in use among the Tatars - in the Volga region the “Tatar hryvnia”, made in the shape of a boat, was known. The hryvnia got its name from a woman’s jewelry - a gold bracelet or hoop, which was worn on the neck - the scruff or mane.

Växa

The equivalent of the modern penny in ancient Rus' was the veksha. Sometimes she was called a squirrel or a veritetka. There is a version that, along with the silver coin, a tanned winter squirrel skin was in circulation, which was its equivalent. There are still disputes around the chronicler’s famous phrase about what the Khazars took as tribute from the glades, northerners and Vyatichi: a coin or a squirrel “from the smoke” (at home). To save up for a hryvnia, an ancient Russian person would need 150 centuries.

Kuna

The eastern dirham was also used in Russian lands. It, and also the European denarius, which was also popular, was called kuna in Rus'. There is a version that the kuna was originally the skin of a marten, squirrel or fox with a princely mark. But there are other versions related to the foreign origin of the name kuna. For example, many other peoples who had the Roman denarius in circulation have a name for the coin that is consonant with the Russian kuna, for example, the English coin.

Rezana

The problem of accurate calculation in Rus' was solved in its own way. For example, they cut the skin of a marten or other fur-bearing animal, thereby adjusting a piece of fur to a particular price. Such pieces were called rezans. And since the fur skin and the Arab dirham were equivalent, the coin was also divided into parts. To this day, halves and even quarters of dirhams are found in ancient Russian treasures, because the Arab coin was too large for small trade transactions.

Nogata

Another small coin was the nogata - it was worth about a twentieth of a hryvnia. Its name is usually associated with the Estonian nahat - fur. In all likelihood, nogata was also originally the fur skin of some animal. It is noteworthy that in the presence of all kinds of small money, they tried to associate every thing with their money. In the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” for example, it is said that if Vsevolod were on the throne, then the price of a slave would be “at the price,” and the price for a slave would be “at a price.”

Every state that arose on this planet in any historical period eventually came to the conclusion that it needed something more than natural exchange. The increase in trade and the emergence of large cities forced rulers or communities to find a way to value a particular product. This is how commodity-money relations were formed.

Coins of Ancient Rus' appeared in the Principality of Kiev at a time when the young state felt a vital need for this.

Money in Kievan Rus before its minting

Before the Slavic tribes united into a single great state - Kievan Rus, countries with an older history had already minted money for many centuries and, thanks to it, conducted trade relations with each other.

The most Rus, found on the territory of the Principality of Kyiv, date back to the 1st-3rd centuries AD. e. and are Roman denarii. Such artifacts were found at excavation sites of ancient settlements, but it is not yet known for certain whether the Slavs used them for payment or for decoration. Since trade relations between the tribes were more of an exchange nature, the real value of denarius in this territory has not been studied.

Thus, the coin of Ancient Rus', kuna, is a concept that, according to ancient Russian chronicles, applies both to Roman, Byzantine and Arab money, and to marten fur, which was often used to pay for goods. Fur and leather have long been the object of commodity-money relations in many countries.

Kievan Rus began to mint their own money only from the end of the 10th century.

Coins of Kievan Rus

The earliest coins of Ancient Rus', found on the territory of the Principality of Kyiv, had an image of a prince on one side and a trident or two-pronged coat of arms on the other. They were made of gold and silver, so in the 19th century, when studying ancient coins and their descriptions in chronicles, they were given the names “zlatniki” and “srebreniks”.

The image of Prince Vladimir on coins from 980 to 1015 had the inscription “Vladimir is on the table, and this is his silver.” On the reverse side was the sign of the Rurikovichs, which changed depending on who reigned.

The very first of Ancient Rus' and the name “hryvnia” applied to them have their own etymology. Initially, this word meant equal to the cost of one horse (mane). The chronicles of those years mention the category “hryvnia of silver”. Later, when the casting of coins from this metal began, it began to correspond to its quantity in the banknote.

Under Vladimir the Great, zlatniks were minted, which weighed ~4.4 g, and silver coins, whose weight varied from 1.7 to 4.68 grams. In addition to the fact that these banknotes had distribution and commercial value within Kievan Rus, they were also accepted outside its borders for settlements in trade. Rus were made only under Prince Vladimir, while his followers used exclusively silver for this.

The image on the obverse of a portrait of Prince Vladimir, and on the reverse - a sign of belonging to the Rurik dynasty, was of a political nature, as it showed the subjects of the newly united state its central power.

Banknotes of Rus' 11-13th centuries

After the death of Vladimir, coins of Ancient Rus' continued to be minted by his son Yaroslav (Prince of Novgorod), known in history as the Wise.

Since Orthodoxy spread throughout the entire territory of the Kyiv principality, on Yaroslav’s banknotes there is an image not of the prince, but of St. George, whom the ruler considered his personal patron. On the reverse of the coin there was still a trident and the inscription that this was Yaroslav’s silver. After he began to reign in Kyiv, the minting of coins stopped, and the hryvnia took the form of a silver diamond.

The last coins of Ancient Rus' (photo below - the money of Oleg Svyatoslavich) are banknotes of 1083-1094, since the subsequent historical period of this state is called coinless. At this time, it was customary to pay using silver hryvnia, which was actually an ingot.

There were several varieties of hryvnia, the main difference being their shape and weight. Thus, the Kiev hryvnia had the form of a rhombus with cut ends, the weight of which was ~160 g. Also in use were the Chernigov (a regular-shaped rhombus weighing ~195 g), the Volga (flat ingot of 200 g), Lithuanian (a bar with notches) and Novgorod (smooth bar weighing 200 g) hryvnia.

The smallest coin of Ancient Rus' still remained of European origin, since silver was not spent on small change. During the time of the Principality of Kyiv, foreign money had its own name - kuna, nogata, veksha - and had its own denomination. So, in the 11th-12th centuries, 1 hryvnia was equal to 20 nogat or 25 kun, and from the end of the 12th century - 50 kun or 100 veks. This is due to the rapid growth of both Kievan Rus itself and its trade relations with other countries.

There is an opinion among scientists that the smallest coins were the skins of martens - kuna, and squirrels - vekshi. One skin was equal to twenty-fifth or fiftieth of a hryvnia, but from the 12th century, payment in fur became obsolete, as the minting of metal kunas began.

The emergence of the ruble

From the 12th century, “chopped” money began to appear in the circulation of Kievan Rus, which was made from silver hryvnia. It was a silver rod, which included 4 “chopped” parts. Each such piece had notches indicating its weight and, accordingly, cost.

Each ruble could be divided into 2 halves, then they were called “half”. Since the 13th century, all hryvnias gradually acquired the name “ruble”, and from the 14th century they began to bear the marks of masters, the names of princes and various symbols.

Coins of Ancient Rus' were used not only to pay for goods, but also to pay fines to the prince’s treasury. Thus, for the murder of a free citizen, the punishment was the highest measure - “vira”, which could cost from 5 hryvnia for a smerd and up to 80 hryvnia for a noble person. For injury caused, the court imposed punishment of half-virye. “Slander” - the fine for slander - was 12 hryvnia.

Payment of taxes to the princely treasury was called a “bow,” and the law itself, issued by Yaroslav the Wise, was called a “bow to the faithful,” indicating the amount of tribute levied from each community.

Coins of the Moscow Principality

The “coinless” time in Kievan Rus ended by the middle of the 14th century, when the minting of coins, called “money,” began again. Often, instead of minting, silver coins of the Golden Horde were used, on which Russian symbols were embossed. The small coins produced were called “half money” and “chetverets”, and the copper coins were called pula.

At this time, banknotes did not yet have a generally recognized denomination, although the Novgorod money produced since 1420 was already close to this. They were minted for more than 50 years in an unchanged form - with the inscription “Veliky Novgorod”.

Since 1425, “Pskov money” appeared, but a unified money system was formed only by the end of the 15th century, when 2 types of coins were adopted - Moscow and Novgorod. The basis of the denomination was the ruble, the value of which was equal to 100 Novgorod and 200 Moscow money. The main monetary unit of weight was still considered the silver hryvnia (204.7 g), from which coins worth 2.6 rubles were cast.

Only in 1530 did 1 ruble receive its final nominal value, which is still used today. It is equal to 100 kopecks, a half - 50, and a hryvnia - 10 kopecks. The smallest money - altyn - was equal to 3 kopecks, 1 kopeck had a face value of 4 half rubles.

Rubles were minted in Moscow, and small money in Novgorod and Pskov. During the reign of the last of the Rurikovich family, Fyodor Ivanovich, kopecks also began to be minted in Moscow. The coins acquired the same weight and image, which indicates the adoption of a unified monetary system.

During the Polish and Swedish occupation, the money again lost its uniform appearance, but after the proclamation of the Tsar from the Romanov family in 1613, the coins acquired the same appearance with his image. Since the end of 1627 it has become the only one in the country.

Coins of other principalities

They minted their own money at different times. The production of coins became most widespread after Dmitry Donskoy issued his first money, which depicted a warrior with a saber on a horse. They were made from a thin silver rod, which was previously flattened. The craftsmen used a special tool with a prepared image - a coin, which, when struck on silver, produced coins of the same size, weight and design.

Soon the rider’s saber was replaced with a spear, and thanks to this the name of the coin became “kopek”.

Following Donskoy, many began to mint their own coins, depicting the ruling princes on them. Because of this, there was a discrepancy in the nominal value of money, which made trading extremely difficult, so minting was prohibited anywhere except Moscow, and a unified monetary system appeared in the country.

Rezana

In addition to solid ones, there was also a homemade coin in Ancient Rus', which was called “rezana”. It was made by cutting the dirham of the Abbasid Caliphate. The nominal value of the “rezan” was equal to 1/20 of a hryvnia, and circulation continued until the 12th century. The disappearance of this coin from the territory of Kievan Rus is due to the fact that the caliphate stopped minting dirhams, and the “rezana” began to be replaced by the kuna.

Coins of Rus' 17th century

Since 1654, the main money was the ruble, half, half-half and altyn. There was no need for smaller coins.

Rubles in those days were made of silver, and half coins, which were similar to them, were minted from copper to differentiate them. Half-and-half coins were also silver, and kopecks were copper.

Real inflation was led to by a royal decree ordering that copper coins be equal in value to silver, which caused food prices to rise and popular unrest to begin. A great uprising in 1662 in Moscow, called the "Copper Riot", led to the decree being repealed and the minting of silver money being restored.

Reform of Peter 1

The first real monetary reform was carried out by Peter 1 in 1700. Thanks to her, the mint began minting silver rubles, half, half, half, altyns, hryvnia and copper kopecks. Chervonets were made from gold. Gold round blanks were made for them, onto which inscriptions and images were applied by embossing.

There were simple (weight - 3.4 g) and double chervonets (6.8 g with the image of Peter 1 on the obverse and a double-headed eagle on the reverse). Also in 1718, a coin with the image of the denomination - a two-ruble coin - appeared for the first time.

These denominations survived virtually unchanged until the 20th century.

Coins of Kievan Rus today

Today there is:

• Zlatnikov Vladimir - 11;

• silver coins of Vladimir - more than 250;
• silver coins of Svyatopolk - about 50;
• silver coins of Yaroslav the Wise - 7.

The most expensive coins of Ancient Rus' are the zlatniks of Vladimir (more than $100,000) and the silver coins of Yaroslav the Wise ($60,000).

Numismatics

The science that studies coins is called numismatics. Thanks to it, collectors can correctly assess the historical and financial value of money. The rarest coins of Kievan Rus are on display in historical museums, where visitors can learn about the history of their minting and their current market value.

Description of the coin type

• Obverse: chest portrait of Prince Vladimir in a hat with pendants, crowned with a cross. Bent legs are shown schematically below. The prince holds a cross with his right hand, his left hand on his chest. A characteristic trident, the ancestral sign of the Rurikovichs, is shown above the left shoulder. Around the circle there is an inscription in Cyrillic: VLADIMIR ON STOL (that is, Vladimir on the throne). On two of the known 11 coins the inscription is different: VLADIMIR AND BE HIS GOLD.
• Reverse: face of Christ. There is an inscription around the circle: JESUS ​​CHRIST.
• Coin diameter 19-24 mm, weight 4.0-4.4 g

All known zlatniks were minted with conjugated stamps - most likely, tongs in which coin stamps were rigidly attached. Each known obverse stamp of a coin corresponds to a single reverse stamp.

In total, six pairs of stamps are known from surviving copies of coins, three of which, considered the earliest, were cut by the same master and bear the inscription “Vladimir on the table” on the obverse. The images and inscriptions on these stamps are made carefully and in the same style with minor variations. The fourth pair of stamps is made more roughly; a letter is missing from the obverse legend. Doubts have been raised about the authenticity of the coin minted with these stamps. The fifth and sixth stamps were copied from the previous ones by a less skilled master: the general design was preserved, but the carver mistook the blessing right hand of Christ on the reverse for folds of clothing and added a hand pressed to the chest on his stamp, and placed the letters of the inscriptions with their bases towards the edge of the coin, and not towards center.

History of Zlatnik

The first zlatnik was purchased by G. Bunge in 1796 in Kyiv from a Ukrainian soldier, who received it as a gift from his mother. In 1815, the Kiev collector Mogilyansky bought the coin from Bunge, but soon lost it. The coin became known among collectors from a plaster cast. Initially, zlatniks and silver coins were considered Serbian or Bulgarian imitations of Byzantine coinage, but subsequent finds in treasures (for example, a treasure of Byzantine solidi of the 11th century with several gold coins from Vladimir found in 1804 in Pinsk and transferred to the Hermitage), careful examination of coins and deciphering of inscriptions made it possible to establish their ancient Russian origin.

This discovery forced us to reconsider the entire collection of Byzantine coins in the Hermitage collection. Among the coins found near Pinsk, 4 zlatniks were discovered. With the increase in finds of coins, mainly silver pieces, a certain skepticism about the existence of a monetary system in Kievan Rus at the end of the 10th century was overcome. Doubts finally disappeared in 1852 after the discovery of a treasure of more than two hundred silver coins in Nizhyn. Subsequently, several more treasures with silver pieces were found, which were mostly distributed to private collections.

Currently, the location of 10 of the 11 discovered goldfish is known. In the Hermitage - 7, in the State Historical Museum - 1, in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine - 1, in the Odessa Historical Museum - 1.

General information

It has been repeatedly suggested that the beginning of the minting of Rus''s own coins (zlatnikov and sererenikov) did not so much meet the requirements of the economy (the monetary circulation of Kievan Rus was provided by imported Byzantine, Arab and Western European coins; there were no sources of coin metal in Rus'), but rather it was a political declaration sovereignty and significance of the Russian state. The minting of silver coins continued at the beginning of the 11th century under the reign of Svyatopolk and Yaroslav, but the minting of zlatniks was no longer resumed after the death of Vladimir. Judging by the small number of copies that have come down to us, the production of gold coins was extremely short in time (perhaps one or two years) and small in volume. However, all currently known examples of zlatniks were found in treasures along with other coins of that time and bear traces of being in circulation - therefore, these coins were not ritual, reward or gift. In the 11th century, judging by the finds of these coins in treasures in Pinsk and Kinburg, zlatniks also participated in international money circulation.

• Coin circles for minting were cast in folding molds, which explains the presence of casting defects noticeable on the spools.

• The mass of zlatnik (about 4.2 g) was later used as the basis for the Russian weight unit - zolotnik.

Byzantine solidus of Basil II and Constantine VIII, which served as a model for the goldsmiths of Vladimir

• The appearance of Russian minted coins was a consequence of the revival of trade and cultural ties with Byzantium. The obvious model for the goldsmiths of Vladimir were the Byzantine solidi of the emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII, to which the goldsmiths are similar both in weight (about 4.2 grams) and in the arrangement of the images.

Commemorative gold coin “Zlatnik of Vladimir”

• In 1988, in the USSR, to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of ancient Russian coinage, a commemorative gold coin with a face value of 100 rubles was issued with the image of Vladimir the goldsmith.

Sources

Literature

• Spassky, I. G., Sotnikova, M. P. Millennium of the most ancient coins of Russia. Consolidated catalog of Russian coins of the X-XI centuries. - M.: Art, 1983. - 240 p.

Online resources

• Zlatnik of Prince Volodymyr Svyatoslavich, article from the book “100 Most Famous Masterpieces of Ukraine”. - Kiev: Autograph, 2004.

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This term has other meanings, see Zlatnik (meanings). Zlatnik of Vladimir from the Hermitage collection Zlatnik (also ... Wikipedia

Zlatnik is the first ancient Russian coin and the ancestor of all other gold banknotes of subsequent centuries in Rus'. It was minted in Kyiv from the beginning of the 10th century to the beginning of the 11th century by the ruler of Kievan Rus, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich the Baptist.

The real name of the coin was lost in time, and the current one was invented by numismatists of the 18th century based on the text of the Russian-Byzantine treaty of 912 by the Prophetic Oleg, where the monetary units “zlatniki” are mentioned as a measure of calculation. To date, only 11 such coins have been found, whose authenticity has been confirmed by numerous examinations and radiocarbon dating. Therefore, their historical and material value is extremely great.

Characteristics:

• material - pure gold;
• diameter - varies from 19 to 24 millimeters;
• weight - in the range from 4.0 to 4.4 grams.

• the image on the front side is a portrait with the face, chest and bent legs of Vladimir the Baptist. On his head is a princely cap with a Christian cross and pendants. The prince's left hand is pressed to his chest, and his right hand is holding an elongated cross. Behind the left shoulder of the prince is depicted the ancestral trident of the dynasty. Along the edge of the coin there is a circular inscription with the words “VLADIMIR ON THE TABLE”, which means the reign of Vladimir on the Kiev throne. On two copies out of the known 11 there was the inscription: “VLADIMIR AND BE ITS GOLD” (The Ruler and his banknote).
• The image on the back shows the face of Christ the Savior, who holds the Gospel in his left hand and releases the blessing with his right hand. Along the edge of the coin there is the inscription “ISUS CHRIST”.
• Depending on the type of stamp, the inscriptions can be located either along the edge of the coin or closer to its center.

All coins found so far have been stamped using coin stamp tongs.

Based on the trace of prints, numismatists established that there were 6 types of stamps: 3 of them are of an early period (they are distinguished by the inscription “Vladimir on the throne”), the 4th stamp is distinguished by rough execution and a missing letter in one of the words on the coin. And the 5th and 6th stamps were copied from the four previous ones, but by a different master, as scientists believe, less talented. The latest stamps are distinguished by the fact that their creator confused Christ’s right hand on the obverse for folds of clothing, and therefore added another hand to the image, pressed to his chest. The new master also moved the inscriptions to the very edge of the coin.

How did Zlatnik appear?

The prerequisites for the appearance of its own coin in ancient Rus' arose in the mid-10th century for several reasons:

• Until then, the Eastern Slavs did not have their own coin; it was replaced by the money of Western Europe, Byzantium, the Arab Caliphate and Samarkand. This state of affairs called into question the statehood and independence of Kievan Rus;
• During the same period of time, an acute shortage of dirhams of the Caliphate (the main coin of Rus' at that time) began to be felt, which led to a decrease in the amount of money supply in circulation.

All this led Prince Vladimir to the need to create his own coin, which would strengthen his power, make Kievan Rus the dominant East Slavic state, increase his fame abroad and make Kyiv the main economy of the region. He began printing two types of coins - silver coins and zlatnik coins. The first was based on the Arabic dirham, and the second was based on Byzantine solidi.

Due to the lack of stable sources of gold and the imperfect technology of the Kyiv mint, Vladimir zlatniks were printed in extremely small quantities, which is why only a few coins have survived to this day. But judging by the fact that all of them were found in treasures in different places in Eastern Europe (Pinsk, Kinburg) along with coins of other states of the 10th-11th centuries, we can conclude that zlatniki circulated in international monetary circulation and were valued as highly as and other gold monetary units of those years.

Another reason for such a small number of coins was the death of Vladimir, after which their minting ceased. Prince Yaroslav, who expelled his sworn brother Svyatopolk and the Polish troops of his father-in-law Boleslav from the Kyiv throne, did not continue the production of zlatnik, limiting himself to minting Novgorod silver coins.

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