Money 

The last convertible: how the golden chervonets helped the Soviet government fight inflation. Literary and historical notes of the young technician Chervonets RSFSR

Despite the end of the civil war and the gradual stabilization of the situation within the RSFSR, the situation in the country remained deplorable. The production facilities were destroyed. To boost the economy, it was necessary to urgently restore them, which was impossible without external purchases. But then politics intervened. "We will fan the world fire on the mountain to all bourgeois" - this is one of the most popular slogans of that time. Bourgeois foreign powers paid us the same coin, considering the Soviet government illegitimate and refusing to cooperate. There remained a tricky move: to offer such a good deal that the possible profit would exceed the political benefits of the moment. For this purpose, it was decided to issue gold coins.

10 rubles (chervonets) 1923

Like the fifty kopeck, which is destined to appear a year later, this coin is devoid of a digital denomination. But for those years, the word "chervonets" is inextricably linked with the concept of "ten rubles". The minting was carried out in 900 gold. The parameters of the coin correspond to the royal gold tens. The weight of the coin is 8.6 grams (deviations are possible, calculated in hundredths of a gram). Of these, pure metal is 7.742 grams. The coin has a diameter of 22.6 mm and a thickness of approximately 1.7 mm (both diameter and thickness may vary slightly). On the edge there is an indented inscription "1 GOLDEN 78.24 SHARE OF PURE GOLD".

Like the rest of the coin series of those times, the chervonets was intended to act not only as a coin, but also to be a poster promoting a new way of life. On the obverse is the coat of arms of the RSFSR. Framing inscription "PROLETARIANS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!" made in Slavic script (which distinguishes the chervonets from other coins of that era). The reverse is almost entirely devoted to the image of a sower.

The development of the stamp of the coin was carried out by Anton Fedorovich Vasyutinsky, already known to us. The peasant-sower, whom we see on the reverse, is made according to the sculpture of Ivan Dmitrievich Shadr (those who made the USSR will surely remember his other, more famous sculpture "Cobblestone - the weapon of the proletariat", and copies of "Girl with an oar" stood in almost every park of a huge country). Note that the sower on the 1923 coin is not a copy of the sculpture, because the sculpture is a half-length portrait. But her real image appeared on paper banknotes.

To embody the sower in full growth, Anton Fedorovich had to revise the concept of the image. On the coin field, besides the peasant himself, the attributes of a new life appear: the rising sun and a working factory. We can see them on the ruble coin of 1924. Chervonets was minted at the Petrograd Mint in an impressive circulation of 2,751,000 copies. The question arises, where are all these coins? It turns out that the "poster" reverse, coupled with the coat of arms of the RSFSR, played a negative role in international trade. Foreign sellers refused to consider this coin as legal tender, regardless of the gold content. Nevertheless, it became clear that the "world bourgeois" is not averse to trading for gold. Most of the circulation was melted down into gold bars. Many coins were minted with preserved royal stamps. The chervonets with a portrait of the emperor was recognized by foreign suppliers as a means of payment, and the purchases necessary for the state were made.

10 rubles (chervonets) 1925

In connection with the formation of the Soviet Union, the obverses and reverses of coins have undergone significant changes. So the Soviet chervonets was planned to appear with the coat of arms of the USSR and the date "1925". To the greatest regret for numismatists, things did not progress further than trial coins. To date, five such copies of the new sample are known. The Museum of the Pushkin Museum has two copies. Three coins are kept in the Goznak Museum. The journey through the collections is continued only by a trial chervonchik of 1925, minted not in gold, but in copper. The unique coin is constantly updating price records. So in 2008, at an auction, this copy changed its owner with a final price of five million rubles. One-sided imprints made on brass are on display at the Museum of the St. Petersburg Mint and the Hermitage. Now the business of selling "copies of rare coins" is widely developed. This sad fate did not bypass the gold coins. Below is one such instance. You don’t even need to check it with a jeweler, “unreal” is immediately given out by crooked date numbers.

In internal circulation, chervonets of 1923 were extremely rare (as long-term savings, the people continued to use gold fives and tens, preserved from tsarist times). Therefore, the government decided not to speed up the previously announced "gold standard", but to quietly withdraw the coins from circulation. The official version is considered to be a sufficient strengthening of the country's financial system and the return of confidence in paper money, undermined by the numerous and motley issues of the civil war.

However, the history of the legendary coin turned out to be unfinished. In the period from 1975 to 1982, the State Bank of the USSR carried out a new issue of chervonets from gold. The reasons why the coat of arms of the RSFSR, and not the Soviet Union (from the sample of 1925), was taken for minting are unclear, although many hypotheses are put forward. The total circulation of the issue of "remakes" is 6,565,000 copies.

This is the only investment coin of the Soviet Union that has kept circulation even after its collapse. By decision of the Bank of Russia, from January 1, 1999, these coins lose the status of the currency of the Russian Federation. But chervonets are not destined to become an exclusively collectible coin. Already in 2001, the circulation of gold chervonets resumed (the coin is a mandatory banknote at face value). Chervonets of the USSR are bought and sold in branches of banks of the Russian Federation at a daily changing rate, along with other investment coins of the Bank of Russia. The 1923 coin has the same rights and could theoretically be among the other copies offered for purchase. In practice, collectors eager to get a coin with the date "1923" not at the market price, but at the investment price, have repeatedly checked the vaults of the regional branches of Sberbank, but no positive results of the search have yet been recorded.

Latest auction prices for coins in Russian rubles

A photoDescription of the coinGVGFVFXFAUUNCproof


Gold chervonets coin - the first Soviet metal coin
coin in circulation.

Coin chervonets sower of Vasyutinskiy

  • By 1920, when the Bolsheviks were just beginning to fully dominate the territory of the former Russian Empire, tormented by the consequences of the October Revolution of 1917 and the civil war of 1918-1920, the monetary system was hopelessly wrecked. During this difficult time, as a result of a catastrophic shortage of goods and unscrupulous speculation, galloping inflation developed in the country.

    The Soviet Union was in dire need of a solid financial and monetary system, for which it was necessary to stabilize the ruble exchange rate and cut the emission of banknotes not backed by gold. Thanks to the monetary reform of 1922-1924, the financial system significantly strengthened its position. But in order to finally defeat inflation in 1922, the government decided to create a stable Soviet currency. This currency has become gold chervonets(chervonets - sower).

    In October 1922, the supreme power issued a decree on the issue of gold chervonets as coins. Various proposals for sketches for the front and stamp sides were not long in coming. For the reverse side of the coin, two versions of the drawing were prepared, and for the front side, they considered it necessary to develop as many as three options. First of all, gold chervonets were supposed to depict representatives of the people who had won the revolution.

    In view of this, one type of obverse was dedicated to the proletariat and a worker at a machine tool was to be depicted on it, a peasant in a field was depicted on another, and a third type of obverse had a special design for the Transcaucasian republics. These sketches were not particularly meaningful and expressive, and therefore they could not show off on an important Soviet coin of that time.

    The development of a new coin project was entrusted to the chief medalist of the Mint Anton Fedorovich Vasyutinskiy. I must say that this talented sculptor, carver and artist is the author of many famous works, including gold portrait coins of Nicholas II, the Order of Lenin and the first badge of the TRP. To create a sufficiently ideologically consistent image of the front side of the golden gold piece, A.F. Vasyutinskiy used the sculpture “ Sower", made earlier by the Russian sculptor Ivan Dmitrievich Shadr. But there is an assertion that the painting "The Sower" for the golden gold piece and the sculpture "The Sower" are just works similar in plot.

According to the definition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, any gold coins made of a high-quality alloy were originally called chervonets, therefore, at different times, the concept of "chervonets" corresponded to a different equivalent in rubles. However, since the beginning of the 20th century, banknotes with a denomination of ten units (rubles, hryvnias, euros, etc.) are usually called chervonets in everyday life. This is due to the issue in the RSFSR of a gold coin chervonets, weight, metal and the size of a repeating coin of 10 rubles during the reign of Nicholas II. There is also a version according to which it follows that the name of the banknote “Chervonets” comes from the word “Chervonny”, that is, red, which again brings us back to the Russian ten-rouble note of the 1909 model (“Red”). Finally, the new meaning of the word was strengthened after the monetary reform of 1922-1924, when the credit notes of the State Bank of the RSFSR were given just such a name.

History of chervonets

In pre-Petrine Russia, any foreign gold coins that had the weight of a ducat were called "chervonets". These were mainly Dutch ducats and Hungarian "Ugric" ducats, as well as sequins. From the reign of Ivan III to Peter I, Russia minted its own gold coins, which were also called chervonets or chervonny. However, they were used mainly as awards and did not have the status of money. They depicted either a double-headed eagle on both sides, or a bust portrait of the ruler and a double-headed eagle.

As a result of the monetary reform of Peter I, a new monetary system was introduced in Russia and the first gold coins appeared - chervonets. In terms of mass (3.47 grams) and fineness (986), they fully corresponded to the Hungarian dukat (Ugrian gold or "eel"). Coins were also issued in denominations of two chervonets weighing 6.94 grams. The first chervonets were issued in 1701 in the amount of 118 copies. Chervonets were used only in trade with foreigners.

Chervonets 1706 (date in letters) is known in gold in a single copy. From the collection of Biron, he ended up in the museum of the city of Vienna. In 2010, it was valued at $300,000.

Under Peter I, chervonets were minted from 1701 to 1716, after which they were replaced by coins with a denomination of two rubles with a lower standard, they depicted the patron saint of Russia, St. Andrew the First-Called. The minting of gold chervonets was resumed by Peter II in 1729 and continued until the middle of the 19th century. In the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, in addition to the year, information about the month and date of minting was also inscribed on chervonets. "Elizabeth" chervonets are clearly divided into 2 groups: with the image of St. Andrew and the image of a double-headed eagle.

The issue of Russian 10-ruble gold coins was abandoned under Alexander I, having set up the issue of a 5-ruble coin with a high 986 fineness, which was subsequently reduced to 917.

But since 1768, the Dutch ducat began to be secretly minted at the St. Petersburg Mint, which until 1867 covered the need of the tsarist government in gold coins for foreign trade.

In order to hide this fact, in all official papers the ducats were referred to under the conditional name "famous coin", and their stamps - as "secret stamps". These coins, both in fineness and in weight, almost completely corresponded to genuine Dutch ducats. In fact, they are fake, and the counterfeiter in this case was ... the state.

Why were Dutch ducats chosen as fakes? The fact is that at that time they were widely used in European trading practice, and their appearance has never changed. Secretly minted ducats were used by the Russian treasury to finance Russian foreign military expeditions, individuals located abroad, as well as to pay salaries to Russian troops in the border regions.

From the second quarter of the 19th century, it was these full-weight gold ducats that gradually began to play a significant role in the internal monetary circulation of Russia. The population began to call them "lobanchiks", "arapchiks", "beams". These exotic names corresponded to the image on the obverse side of the coin: a warrior in armor and a helmet, with a sword in his right hand and with a bunch of arrows in his left hand. "Lobanchik" - in the image of a warrior who was taken as a soldier and his forehead was shaved. "Arapchik" - according to the image of a warrior in armor, who was considered an arap. "Beam" - a bunch of arrows in the hand of a warrior. The minting of ducats of this type in the Netherlands was temporarily stopped only in 1849. In Russia, starting from 1849 and until 1867, the "secret coin" was issued with one date - 1849. A total of 4,350,190 counterfeit ducats were issued during this period. After an official protest by the Dutch government in 1868, the Russian minting of ducats was discontinued. At the beginning of 1869, most of them were minted into Russian gold coins, but still a lot remained with the population, which indicates great confidence in this coin.

In the 19th century, “white” chervonets made of platinum were also very popular in Russia.

By 1827, the Russian treasury had accumulated large reserves of platinum mined from the Ural placers. Its quantity was so great that the sale would have collapsed the metal market, so it was decided to put them into circulation. The initiator of the minting of platinum coins was Count Kankrin. Coins made of unrefined platinum (97%) were minted from 1828 to 1845 with denominations of 3, 6 and 12 rubles. Such denominations, rare for Russia, appeared due to the fact that, for the convenience of minting, their size was chosen as that of 25 kopecks, half a ruble, and the ruble, respectively, and in this volume of metal it was just for this amount.

This was the first time in mintage that minted coins consisted almost entirely of platinum. Prior to this, platinum was used for the production of coins only as a ligature for gold or copper (when counterfeiting coins).

As we can see, since the time of Peter I, gold coins have been regularly minted in Russia, but in fact they did not participate in the internal money circulation, but were used by the population as treasures or for external payments. This was facilitated by the practice of distributing gold coins by members of the imperial family as awards to distinguished military personnel (including ordinary soldiers) and officials.

Gold coins began to participate in monetary circulation only in the 1880s - the first half of the 90s of the XIX century, but the law, according to which all transactions had to be made in silver, legally remained in force.

Thus, by the 1890s, the need for a new financial reform was ripe in Russia. On the eve of the reform, there were serious discussions in government circles about the introduction of bimetallic banknotes (silver and gold) into circulation. at that time, significant reserves of silver accumulated in the country.

Having become the Minister of Finance in August 1892, Count S.Yu. Witte was originally a supporter of the reform on the basis of bimetallism. However, tying the credit ruble to the bimetallic equivalent was also fraught with great danger: with a high market situation for one of the parities, a steady decline in the value of the other could not only fail to lead, but even increase its instability. In particular, this danger was pointed out by his predecessor as Minister of Finance Vyshegradsky, who sought to use the successful experience of Austria-Hungary in the transition to the gold equivalent. A sober calculation and a vision of the historical possibilities of Russia made S. Yu. Witte a staunch supporter of monometallism. The Minister of Finance developed the principles of the reform and a detailed plan for its implementation, and received the full support of the king. The introduction of gold circulation took place in stages. In February 1895, Witte submitted a draft to the Finance Committee to allow transactions for a gold coin, which could serve as the basis for financial transactions along with silver and credit notes. A decisive step towards gold circulation was the law approved by the State Council and approved by Nicholas II on May 8, 1895.

In connection with the reform, it became necessary to start making a new type of gold coin. The Ministry of Finance believed that issuing coins of five and ten ruble denominations was inefficient: the discrepancy between the indicated denomination and the real value was one of the most important obstacles to the spread of circulation. Therefore, it was decided to mint a new coin with the inscription "15 rubles" on the imperial and "7 rubles 50 kopecks" on the semi-imperial. The value of the credit ruble was determined at 1/15 of the imperial, and the law obliged to exchange paper money for gold without restriction.

As a result of the monetary reform of 1895-1897, the following banknotes entered circulation throughout the Russian Empire:

    gold coins with the right of free coinage in denominations of 15; 10; 7.5 and 5 rubles (respectively weighing 12.9; 8.6; 6.45; 4.3 grams) from gold of the 900th test;

    credit notes, freely exchangeable for gold and back in denominations of 500; one hundred; fifty; 25; 10; five; 3 and 1 ruble;

    silver coins made under the conditions of closed coinage (that is, private individuals could not hand over silver for minting coins), dividing into full-fledged - 1 ruble, 50 and 25 kopecks (weighing 20; 10 and 5 grams) from silver of the 900th test and defective - 20; 15; 10 and 5 kopecks (3.6; 2.7; 1.8; 0.9 grams) from silver of the 500th test;

    copper coins of small denominations - 5; 3; 2; one; 1/2 and 1/4 kopecks, minted on a 50-ruble coin stack, that is, coins worth 50 rubles were made from 16 kg of copper.

Starting from 1907, in connection with the improvement in the methods of manufacturing securities, a gradual release into circulation of new 10-ruble credit notes was carried out, which in everyday life were often called "Chervonets". In accordance with the decree of April 29, 1909 (No. 31831), from November 1 of the same year, a credit note of 10 rubles of the 1909 model was issued. It was in circulation until October 1, 1922. For its reddish-pink color, it was often called "red".

From "sovznak" to chervonets

By the end of the Civil War, Russia was a sad sight. In 1922, the level of production was 13% of the pre-war level and 8% of the 1916 level. Devastation reigned in industry and transport, but the greatest devastation reigned in the financial sector. The fact is that by that time there was practically no money in Soviet Russia - tsarist credit notes, Duma money, “Kerenki”, securities and money surrogates, known as “sovznaks”, were still in circulation.

The course of the Soviet sign was a record low. If at the beginning of 1914 the dollar was worth 1 ruble 94 kopecks, at the end of 1916 - 6 rubles 70 kopecks, and on the day of the October Revolution - 11 rubles, then by the end of 1918 the dollar exchange rate had increased to 31 rubles 25 kopecks, and by the end of 1919 - up to 72 rubles 46 kopecks.

Officially, Soviet signs, although measured in rubles, were not called money, since it was the time of the triumph of the military communist ideology, as well as the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe complete withering away of money as a legacy of capitalism in the very near future. The efforts of many Marxist theorists were directed at that time to the creation of a non-monetary accounting system and the search for a material of value other than money - the “labor unit” (“thread”). This was reflected in the text of the Second Program of the RCP(b), adopted by the Eighth Party Congress in March 1919: "The RCP will strive to carry out as quickly as possible the most radical measures preparing for the destruction of money..."

At the Third All-Russian Congress of Economic Councils (January 1920), the task of establishing a "fixed accounting unit" was put forward, which should be based on the unit of labor. In January 1921, the Council of People's Commissars instructed the People's Commissariat of Finance to "immediately begin to develop ... a new counting unit." The draft decree of the Council of People's Commissars on "trade" was soon developed and, after approval, was to come into force on January 1, 1922. One normal day of labor of a worker of the first category was taken as a unit of measurement.

Any talk about a return to a full-fledged monetary circulation was regarded at that time as “anti-Marxist” and “counter-revolutionary”: “because “humanity has already suffered so much in its history because of this very damned money!”.

However, the exchange rate of the Soviet sign began to fall even more sharply than the rate of the pre-revolutionary ruble, and by the end of 1920, 256 Soviet signs were given for the dollar, and by the end of 1921 - 1389.

No one wanted to take such money, and the role of the universal equivalent began to move from money to moonshine. The country has slipped into the era of barter: for several suitcases of cut paper (“sovznak”), a loaf of bread was purchased on the black market, etc.

As a result, by the beginning of 1921, the Soviet government lost economic control over the country, which, by all logic, was followed by the loss of political control. The Kronstadt rebellion, the peasant uprisings in the Tambov region, in Bashkiria, Khakassia and other regions of the country seriously frightened the leaders of the Bolsheviks. In March 1921 V.I. Lenin introduces the NEP "in earnest and for a long time."

The New Economic Policy called for a radical revision of the views of the leaders of the Soviet state on the role of money in the transitional economy. But they still did not have an exact recipe for the transition from increasingly depreciating "sovznaks" to a stable monetary unit. The task of such a transition V.I. Lenny was set at the very beginning of the NEP, but no one then knew what kind of monetary unit it would be. In the Narkomfin, a number of prominent experts believed that it was necessary not to create a new monetary unit, but to somehow stabilize and preserve the "sovznak".

At the end of 1921, 33-year-old G.Ya. Sokolnikov, who completed a doctoral course in economics at the Sorbonne. It was he, with a group of economists, which included mainly specialists from the "old" school, headed by Vladimir Vasilyevich Tarnovsky (1872-1954), who began to vigorously implement the idea of ​​creating a red circulation.

Before the revolution, V.V. Tarnovsky was the manager of the city branch of the Moscow International Trade Bank, then the manager of commercial banks in Samara, Rostov-on-Don, and since 1912 the director and chairman of the board of one of the largest joint-stock commercial credit banks in Russia - the Siberian Commercial Bank in St. Petersburg. The time of wars and revolutions in itself dictates unexpected decisions, pushes people to sometimes completely unpredictable actions. And when the world war broke out, V. Tarnovsky performed, perhaps, the most surprising for a man of his position, a truly heroic deed. At 42, he quit his prestigious, highly paid service in a bank (his salary was 100 thousand rubles a year, and his personal capital was estimated at almost 3 million), and as part of the Life Guards 3rd Infantry Regiment, he volunteered for the Western Front. Lieutenant Tarnovsky spent eight months in the trenches, only 250 people remained from the regiment after one of the battles. He was lucky to survive, but soon, due to a serious illness, Tarnovsky was evacuated to the rear. In September 1917 he left military service. When the October Revolution took place, Tarnovsky and his wife were in Finland. He lost all his posts and capital, but returned to Russia.

The former financier was one of the first to respond to the call of the Soviet government to the Russian intelligentsia to return to the service of Russia, and in 1920 he signed an appeal by twenty prominent pre-revolutionary Russian figures to the Entente countries and emigrants to stop fighting Soviet Russia.

V.V. Tarnovsky had a tremendous practical experience in banking and, being a true Russian patriot, he decided, to the best of his ability, to contribute to the revival of the country's economy. He became one of the initiators of the creation of the State Bank of the RSFSR, which was established by decrees of the Council of People's Commissars (October 4) and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (October 7), 1921.

In a number of his speeches at the then popular economic disputes, Tarnovsky was the first to substantiate the need to grant the State Bank the right to issue its own paper money. Unlike state banknotes, they were to be called "State Bank credit notes". These tickets were supposed to be issued in the Russian state currency, which was considered to be the golden ruble, containing 17.424 shares of gold. Bank tickets must be backed by gold, precious metals, foreign currency and other valuables and goods belonging to the State Bank and pledged to it, as well as trustworthy bills and obligations. Credit notes of the State Bank were conceived as legal means of payment used in all settlements with state and municipal institutions. The main capital of the bank was to consist of real values, and not of state banknotes, and be calculated in the gold ruble.

This is the decision of V.V. Tarnovsky accompanied by an evidentiary presentation of the main elements of the system of preparatory and accompanying measures: the permission of free circulation in the country of gold and foreign currency, which would make possible the actual parity of the chervonets to them, as well as the parity of the chervonets to the "sovznak". To do this, all these bank values ​​must be allowed to be freely quoted on commodity exchanges both domestically and abroad.

Being in a hopeless situation, the authorities listened to the suggestions of an experienced financier. Already on July 25, 1922, the decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On granting the State Bank the right to issue bank notes into circulation" was adopted.

According to the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of September 8, 1922 "On the Establishment of the Homogeneity of Monetary Circulation", credit notes of 1909 lost their payment force from October 1922. Their exchange was carried out at the rate of 10,000 rubles for 1 ruble of the 1922 model.

The first denomination somewhat streamlined the monetary system, but could not stop the monstrous inflation. At the XI Congress of the RCP (b), finally, it was decided to create a stable Soviet currency.

There was a discussion about how to name the new money. There were proposals to abandon the old names and introduce new, "revolutionary" ones. For example, employees of Narkomfin suggested calling the unit of hard Soviet currency "federal". Traditional names were also proposed: "hryvnia", "rule" and "chervonets". Due to the fact that the hryvnia was the name of the money that was in circulation in Ukraine under the rule of the UNR, and the "rule" was associated with the silver ruble, it was decided to call the new money "chervonets".

By a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of October 11, 1922, the State Bank was granted the right to issue bank notes in gold value in denominations of 1/2, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 and 50 chervonets. This money was fully provided by the state with reserves of precious metals and foreign currency, goods and bills of reliable enterprises. Even before their release, the pre-revolutionary gold ruble became the basis of financial settlements in the RSFSR, and in 1922 it was legalized as a means of payment.

Since November 1922, banknotes in denominations of 1, 3, 5, 10 and 25 chervonets began to enter circulation. From notes in 1/2, 2 and 50 chervonets, it was decided to abandon, although in 1928 a bill of 2 chervonets again came into circulation. It was recorded on banknotes that 1 chervonets contains 1 spool of 78.24 shares (7.74 g) of pure gold, and that "the beginning of the exchange is established by a special government act."

Simultaneously with the release of paper chervonets, in October 1922, it was decided to issue gold chervonets in the form of coins. According to its weight characteristics (8.6 g, 900 fineness) and size, the chervonets fully corresponded to the pre-revolutionary coin of 10 rubles. The author of the drawing was the chief medalist of the mint A.F. Vasyutinskiy. The obverse of the coin depicted the coat of arms of the RSFSR; on the reverse - a peasant-sower, made according to the sculpture of I.D. Shadra, now located in the Tretyakov Gallery. The sitters were two peasants from the village of Pragovaya, Shadrinsk district, Perfiliy Petrovich Kalganov and Kipriyan Kirillovich Avdeev. Metal chervonets were mainly used by the Soviet government for foreign trade operations, but some of the coins also circulated within Russia.

With the start of the production of metal gold chervonets for settlements with foreign countries, such an incident is connected: Western countries resolutely refused to accept these coins, since Soviet symbols were depicted on them. The solution was found instantly - the Soviet Mint began issuing a gold gold piece of the sample of Nicholas II, which was unconditionally accepted abroad. Thus, the Soviet government bought the goods it needed abroad for coins with the image of the deposed tsar.

On February 2, 1924, the Second Congress of Soviets decided to put into circulation a stable currency of the all-Union model, and on March 10, the redemption of Soviet signs from the population began. Thus, the parallel circulation of the two currencies was stopped.

Chervonets was met with confidence by the population and was considered, rather, not as a means of circulation, but as a non-monetary security. Many expected that there would be an exchange of paper chervonets for gold, although no government act on the free exchange of chervonets for gold was ever issued. Nevertheless, the population exchanged paper chervonets for royal gold coins and vice versa, sometimes even with a small overpayment for paper chervonets (due to the convenience of liquidity and storage). Thanks to this, the exchange rate of the chervonets remained stable, which provided a solid basis for the deployment of the NEP.

Gradually, chervonets began to penetrate foreign markets. Since April 1924, the rate of the chervonets began to be quoted on the New York Stock Exchange - the chervonets stood at a level exceeding its dollar parity. In 1924-25, unofficial transactions with gold coins were made in London and Berlin. At the end of 1925, the issue of its quotation on the Vienna Stock Exchange was fundamentally resolved. By that time, the gold piece was officially quoted in Milan, Riga, Rome, Constantinople, Tehran and Shanghai. Soviet gold coins could be exchanged or purchased in almost all countries of the world.

Being a sufficiently hard and stable currency, the Soviet chervonets had a high purchasing power in the country. Chervonets were forged, wanting to damage the national economy of the USSR, and sometimes for financial fraud abroad.

The most well-known scams involving counterfeiting of chervonets by employees of the English capitalist Henry Deterding, owner of the largest oil concern Shell, who was dissatisfied with the fact that the USSR was selling its oil cheaper than the average market price. There are also cases of falsification of chervonets by some representatives of the "white" emigration who settled in Germany.

Most often, banknotes with a denomination of 1 chervonets became objects of forgery, since they had a pattern on only one side. The largest batch of counterfeit chervonets was arrested in Murmansk in 1928 - the postal clerk Sepalov uncovered an underground network for the distribution of counterfeit banknotes printed in Germany. Former White Guards were involved in it. All of them were convicted in Germany and Switzerland, where they received minimal terms. Subsequently, their experience was used by Nazi Germany during the Great Patriotic War to forge Soviet and other banknotes.

The death of the chervonets

A number of steps taken by the Soviet government in 1925-1933 led to the abandonment of a stable monetary unit:

    restriction of the activity of private capital and the subsequent complete liquidation of private entrepreneurship;

    disparity in prices for industrial and agricultural goods, limiting the formation of a stable trade turnover;

    excessive bank lending to industry and the formalization of self-supporting enterprises;

    inefficient methods of economic impact on agriculture, holding back its economic growth (collectivization, dispossession);

    centralization of management and the transition to administrative-command methods of management.

These factors led to a shortage of commodity supply and inflation. As a result, in the second half of the 1920s, a revision of the theoretical concept of money began, which was associated with the transition from one model of the economic mechanism (NEP) to another - administrative-command.

Already in 1926-1928, the chervonets ceased to be a convertible currency. After the credit reform of 1930-1933, aimed at centralizing credit processes in the economy and abolishing commercial lending and bills of exchange, chervonets were actually forced out of circulation by bank and treasury notes denominated in rubles. A fiduciary standard was established in money circulation.

The "father" of the Soviet gold coin V.V. Tarnovsky, together with a group of specialists from the "old" school, was "cleansed" from the apparatus of the Narkomfin in October 1929. He was expelled "in the first category", which meant a ban on work in any state, cooperative and public organizations, deprivation of pension, severance pay and unemployment benefits. The knowledge of the old "specialists" and their experience in a market economy did not fit into the future plans to speed up the first "five-year plans". Later, some "reformed" specialists were allowed to return to service, but Tarnovsky no longer worked at the Narkomfin.

Banking directors - colleagues in pre-revolutionary work - offered V.V. Tarnovsky emigration and a comfortable existence on the basis of capital available abroad. But he resolutely rejected all proposals, because he considered it a betrayal of the Fatherland. The actual savior of the power of the Bolsheviks from the inevitable financial and political collapse, the "father" of the Soviet chervonets, died forgotten by everyone in 1954. The urn with the ashes of Tarnovsky was modestly buried by relatives in the grave of his youngest daughter at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

CHERVONETS, ntsa, m. 1. A set of any ten items. In the mornings he makes a chervonets (runs 10 km). For such a tower you need, and not a gold piece (the term of imprisonment is 10 years). 2. Policeman (more often about a traffic police officer). The gold coin is standing, slow down. General use… … Dictionary of Russian Argo

CHERVONETS Modern Encyclopedia

chervonets- see ten-ruble note Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011. chervonets n. ten-rouble ... Synonym dictionary

Chervonets- (from the Polish czerwony zloty, literally red gold, i.e. a coin made of the finest gold), 1) the general name of foreign gold coins (ducats, sequins) circulating in pre-Petrine Russia. 2) Russian gold coin 3 ruble ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

CHERVONETS- (from Polish czerwony zloty lit. red, gold, i.e. a coin of the finest gold) ... 1) the common name of foreign gold coins (ducats, sequins) in pre-Petrine Russia 2)] Russian gold coin of 3 ruble denominations in 18 19 centuries ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

CHERVONETS- Chervonets, chervonets, husband. 1. Gold coin (5 or 10 rubles; obsolete). “Pyatakov give a handful of three chervonets in exchange to the peasant.” Krylov. || only many. In general, coins, gold, money (obsolete). “And your gold coins were not stolen from defenseless orphans and ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

CHERVONETS- CHERVONETS, ntsa, husband. 1. Gold coin (denomination at different times of 3, 5 or 10 rubles) (obsolete). 2. From 1922 to 1947: 10 ruble bank note (now colloquial). 3. The amount of ten rubles (colloquial). Red price h | adj. red, ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

Chervonets- Russian gold coin, 3 x rub. denominations, the same as the Italian ducat or sequin, were minted for the first time under PetreVel. in 1701 Ch. minted 93 samples, later 941/10 and 942/3 samples. 19th century until 1841 Ch. were minted in St. Petersburg. and Warsaw from ... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

CHERVONETS- with five. Jarg. injection. Fifteen years in prison. BBI, 278; Baldaev 2, 141. Small gold pieces. Jarg. injection. Shuttle. Lice. BBI, 278; Baldaev 2, 141 ... Big dictionary of Russian sayings

chervonets- nca; m. 1. Razg. In Russia before 1917: a gold coin in denominations of five and ten rubles. 2. In the USSR from 1922 to 1947: a cash credit note with a face value of ten rubles, which was in circulation. // Expand. About a ten-dollar credit note... encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

  • Golden chervonets No. 4 (25) 2013 Buy for 129 rubles electronic book
  • Golden chervonets №2 (23) 2013 , Absent. "Zolotoy Chervonets" is a magazine about coins for collections, investments and gifts. In each issue: an overview of the markets for commemorative coins, a section on old coins and medals, reports from international…

It has a long and interesting history that began back in 1922. It was then that the decision was made by the leadership of the young Soviet state to issue a golden gold piece similar to the royal one, but only with Soviet symbols. In 1923, the coin was issued with a circulation of 2,751,000 pieces.

The golden gold piece is one of the. The main purpose of the Sower coin was to pay for foreign trade operations. Soviet chervonets did not receive mass distribution among the population.

The sower is one of the main investment coins in Russia, along with such as:

  • Sobol and George the Victorious.

Royal chervonets


The Soviet chervonets is identical in its characteristics to - 10 rubles of 1897 (imperial), the time of Nicholas II:

  • uncirculated quality (AC);
  • pure gold content 7.742 g;
  • total weight 8.603(±0.08) g;
  • gold 900;
  • diameter: 22.60 (+10 -0.15) mm;
  • thickness 1.70 (+0.05 -0.15) mm

The difference between the two coins is in appearance. On the imperial coin - the coat of arms of the Russian Empire and the profile of Nicholas II with the inscription: "Nicholas II Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia", on the Soviet coin - the coat of arms of the RSFSR with the inscription: "PROLETARIANS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!" and the figure of a peasant - a sower against the background of factories, a plow and the sun.

The author of the sketch for the Soviet gold coin was Anton Fyodorovich Vasyutinsky (1858-1935), a famous medalist artist. Remarkably, he was a well-known author of both royal coins and medals, and Soviet ones.

The approximate price of coins issued in 1923 is 80,000 - 130,000 rubles. They are quite rare and are of interest to numismatists.

Trial chervonets

The coat of arms of the RSFSR is depicted on the Soviet chervonets, in 1923 the coat of arms of the USSR was approved and the idea arose to stamp the "Sower" with it. In 1924, gold and copper trial coins were issued with the state emblem of the USSR - a hammer and sickle against the backdrop of the globe. The date of issue of these coins is 1925, the only difference from previously issued coins is the coat of arms.

But the coins were never issued, this is due to the fact that in 1925 Western countries declared a gold blockade of the Soviets and did not accept Soviet chervonets for payment. Instead of "Sowers" they began to stamp imperial gold coins with Nicholas II, indicating the year of issue 1911, which were accepted for payment without hindrance.

Currently, five gold coins are known from the chervonets issued in 1925: three are kept in the Goznak Museum, two are in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

Of the copper coins, only one is known, sold in April 2008 in Moscow at the auction “Collection Russian Coins and Medals”. Experts estimated the value of the coin at 1.8-2 million rubles, but it was sold for 5 million rubles. The starting price was 1 million rubles.

Chervonets remake


On the eve of the 1980 Summer Olympics, which took place in Moscow, the Soviet authorities decided to resume the minting of the Sower gold chervonets. In 1975, 250,000 pieces were minted, and between 1976 and 1982, the coin was issued with a circulation of 1,000,000 pieces annually. The coins were used for sale to foreign tourists as souvenirs, as well as for international payments.

The new coin is no different from the old one, only the years of issue have changed. They were issued both at the Moscow Mint (MMD) and at the Leningrad Mint (LMD). The price of remakes is approximately 13-15 thousand rubles.

Coins were also issued with a quality proof, their circulation amounted to 100,000 pieces. Currently, the price of this coin is approximately 20,000-22,000 rubles.

Since 01/01/1999, the Sower gold coin has lost its status as the currency of the Russian Federation. On July 3, 2001, the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia established that "gold coins - chervonets (10 rubles) issued in 1975-1982 circulate on the territory of the Russian Federation as legal tender."

Nina Polonskaya