People needed means of payment even before they invented money, and therefore, before they appeared, the calculation was made in kind: grain, fish, cattle, and sometimes slaves. At the beginning of the Bronze Age, that is, approximately from the XXXIII century. BC e., the role of cash equivalent began to play metal in the form of ingots of various shapes and weights. The first cast coins appeared in China no later than the middle of the second millennium BC. e., and the earliest minted - about 700 BC. e. in the cities of Asia Minor. It was with them that the history of the modern payment system began, and with it the numismatics.
Coins in the Ancient World
Having entered into circulation, copper coins, like those made of gold and silver, quickly supplanted weighted means of payment and were most widely used, primarily because the state, which guaranteed the value indicated on them, was engaged in their production. In addition, all of them, regardless of their nominal value, except for performing economic functions, played the role of information carriers, and since the portraits of rulers began to be minted on them, they have become a significant factor in the ideological impact on the masses.
A powerful impetus to the production of gold, silver and copper coins was given by the development of the states of the ancient world, and during the period of the greatest expansion of the possessions of the Ancient Roman Empire, it reached its peak. It is characteristic that at the same time counterfeiters appeared in the world. Particularly large-scale manufacturing of fakes reached in Athens at the turn of the VI and V centuries. BC e., in connection with which the death penalty was first introduced for this type of crime.
Money scam of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
As is known from history, copper coins in Russia appeared only in the middle of the 16th century, when the treasury felt an acute shortage of previously existing silver and gold money, many of which were spent on military needs. The initiative for their introduction into circulation belonged to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and was a kind of government scam.
The fact is that with the same size and weight, copper coins were officially equated to silver, while in reality they were inferior to them by purchasing power many times, and this difference was constantly increasing. In addition, paying the people with copper coins (at the silver rate), the government levied taxes and taxes on it only in silver. The result was a catastrophic impoverishment of the population, resulting in the so-called “Copper Riot”, crushed by the king with extraordinary cruelty. However, the further release of the hated by the people "copper coins" was discontinued.
Peter's monetary reform
The next stage in the history of ancient copper coins of Russia began during the reign of Peter I, when a national monetary reform was developed and implemented. She provided for the release of coins of various denominations made of gold, silver and copper. Moreover, each type had a strictly set nominal value corresponding to how much and what kind of metal went into its manufacture. The entire monetary system of Russia was built on a decimal basis (for the first time in the world), in which coins of various denominations were in a certain ratio among themselves.
The main difficulty that the authorities faced when introducing Russian copper coin into circulation was the restoration of confidence in it, undermined by the criminal frivolity of Sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich. It should be noted that Peter I coped with this task brilliantly. He did not try to duplicate silver with copper, as his father had once done, and, taking the previously issued silver penny as a basis, he ordered its fractions to be minted from copper - components intended for the smallest payments. In addition, the real value of the copper used to make each coin was always equal to the value of silver in that part (fraction) of the penny to which it corresponded.
Beginning of widespread copper money production
Thanks to such a reasonable approach, the Russian copper coin not only went into widespread use, but also opened the way for further monetary reform. Its production was established at the Moscow Mint, which has since been stretched by endless wagons loaded with heavy yellow-red blanks.
The whole technological process was established according to the Western model. The material was preliminarily rolled out on special machines, making strips of the required thickness from it, from which circles were then cut down, headed straight under the stamp. By the way, the face value of such copper coins was very low. For example, in order to pay for an engagement ring with a small diamond, they would need to load a whole cart.
"Money" and "half"
The new tsarist copper coins were called “money”, well known to the people from the time when there was no cents at all. The etymology (origin) of this word is very curious. As linguists explain, it is a Turkic noun “tamga”, which means “seal” or “sign”, re-translated into the Russian style.
This is explained by the fact that even in the “pre-pecuniary” period, on the front side (obverse) of the coins bearing this name, an image of the coat of arms was placed, and their dignity was indicated on the reverse (reverse). Half the “money” was called the “half”. When Peter I introduced copper coins that inherited the name “money” into circulation, each of them was equal to half a silver penny, and half was its quarter. In the same period, on the reverse of coins, in addition to dignity, the year of their manufacture began to be indicated, not by numbers, but by the corresponding letters of the Slavic alphabet.
Further development of monetary reform
As noted above, thanks to the successful introduction of copper money into circulation, the government was able to fully implement the monetary reform outlined by Peter I. So, in 1704, silver coins appeared in Russia, which were fractions of the ruble: half a half, half a half and a dime. Soon after this, another important step was taken towards improving the state monetary system - silver rubles and copper pennies appeared in circulation, the real value of which corresponded to their silver counterpart. On them, in full accordance with tradition, the image of a horseman with a spear was placed (from this spear the word "penny" came).
Despite the fact that silver pennies were withdrawn from circulation, giving way to copper coins of the same denomination, the Russians were very reluctant to part with them. Over the years since that time, many treasures have been discovered, entirely consisting of these small silver coins, rejected in the time of Peter the Great, called “scales”. Apparently, cautious inhabitants did not rush to sell them by weight in the hope that the tsar's whim sooner or later would pass, and everything would return to its previous course. Then they will get from their "bins" hidden full-weight pennies.
Comparison of Peter's and Soviet cents
In modern numismatics, the term "coin foot" exists, denoting the amount of metal used to make one coin. Applying it to the copper money produced during the reign of Peter I, we can say that they were minted on a twelve-foot foot. In other words, coins worth 12 rubles were made from one pound of source material.
In order to more clearly imagine whether it is a lot or a little, we give as an example a penny produced in the Soviet Union, the weight of which was, as you know, one gram. It is easy to calculate that from the pond, that is, from 16 kg, of the source material, “trifles” were obtained in the amount of 160 rubles. Thus, it can be argued that the smallest coin in the USSR was minted on a 160-ruble foot. Hence the conclusion: the penny, issued at the beginning of the Petrine reform, was 13.5 times heavier than the Soviet one.
On the verge of a financial crisis
The need to focus on the fact that it was about coins issued in the years that followed immediately after the start of the reform is explained by the fact that very soon copper shortages began to be felt in Russia. As a result, it was decided to reduce the amount of material in each coin, and copper money began to lose weight dramatically. So, by 1718 they were minted on a 20-ruble foot, and a few years later it fell another half.
The result was the activation of counterfeiters, which is not surprising, since the state began to produce copper coins, which, judging by the material invested in them, are almost 8 times cheaper than their own face value. Fakes filled the country and threatened to trigger a financial crisis. The only effective measure to solve the problem was a 4-fold increase in the monetary stop, which the government did in 1730.