Where did the first coin in the world appear? History of coins. What did people expect in ancient times?

Jupiter's helper

Surely, in the wallet of each person you can find a couple of coins. They are convenient to pay in transport or buy coffee from a vending machine. And not many thought about where and how the very first coin was made.

The very word "coin" came to us from Latin and is translated as "advisor". It was this title that Juno, the wife of Jupiter, had. It was believed that Juno predicted the attacks of enemies or natural disasters to the Romans. Near the temple of Juno (located near Rome) workshops were located where metal coins were minted. However, these are not the very first coins.

ancient find

As a result of multiple excavations, it was found that the very first coin was a stater. This coin was discovered in the territory of ancient Lydia. Now this territory belongs to Palestine and Turkey. Archaeologists have established that the age of this coin is at least 3200 years. Research led archaeologists to the fact that the creator of the coin was Phi Don (VII century BC). Phi Don was the ruler of the island of Aegina. It was on this island that one of the most ancient mints was located. Also, there is an opinion that the first coin appeared under King Ardis (685 BC).

The stater was made of an alloy of silver and gold. This alloy is called electrum. On one side of the coin, a lion was depicted, while the other side was blank. From other sources, you can find out that there was a stamp on the reverse side that spoke about the value of the coin. The shape of the stater was oval, not round as it is now. Initially, the stater was made of gold or silver. One gold stater was equal in value from 20 to 28 drachmas. Also, one gold stater could be exchanged for 2 silver staters. Approximately in the same period (5th century BC), dariki began to appear - coins made of high-grade gold. It is believed that the darik is the very first pure gold coin. Based on this opinion, the first pure gold coin appeared under the Lydian king Croesus.

A lion is more valuable than a turtle

Later it was found that there were coins with the image of a sea turtle. These coins had a lower value than those depicting a roaring lion (stater). Also, coins were found depicting various mythical creatures, however, these coins were of little value and were rare.

The main reason for the appearance of coins in the territory of Lydia was that there was an active trade between countries and various tribes. This is evidenced by the fact that staters are still found during research and excavations on the territory of Celtic settlements. Initially, ordinary pieces of gold or silver were used as coins. However, the pieces had different weights and, accordingly, cost. Therefore, there was a need to standardize money.

Long-lived coin

Also, it is worth noting that the stater was quite popular. This confirms the written mention that can be found in the Gospel of Matthew (17: 24-27). There we are talking about the miracle of Jesus connected with the stater. This mention allows you to verify the age of the stater. Another confirmation is that the stater was in circulation for about 8 centuries!

However, not everyone recognizes the stater as the very first coin. Some claim that the very first coin was minted in China (XII century BC). Unlike the stater, these coins were in circulation only in China and had a special royal seal, which testified to their authenticity. The seal had a drawing of the head of a bull or a lion.

Others claim that the oldest coin belongs to the territory North America and its age is 50 thousand years. However, none of these coins has ever been found. And so it's just speculation.

Before the origin of coins, for centuries the mission of a means of payment, i.e. money, performed various items Applications: shells, slaves, grain, livestock, and more. In the Bronze Age, metal became the monetary equivalent.

With the development of trade and production, ingots from precious metals and copper of various shapes and weights, having a high value with a relatively small mass. In the second millennium BC. in Babylon, merchants, when using ingots or rings made of precious metals, guaranteed their weight and metal content with a brand.

Around 700 B.C. coins appeared in Lydia and the Ionian cities of Asia Minor, which gradually began to replace weight money. They differed from weight money in that the state itself was engaged in their manufacture. Money was obtained from the coin in the form of a convenient piece of metal, for the content of the noble metal in which the state vouched for the applied image and inscription. In addition to the economic function, it also gave this means of payment and circulation the function of an information carrier. The appearance of coins became a means of payment for subsistence, and led to the strengthening of the key positions of the state in the economy.

For example, in Greece, where the money factories were state-owned, life without the state, state regulation and state laws for the citizens of the country became impossible even for economic reasons. Coins are a sign, minted from gold, silver, copper or other metals and alloys, have a front - obverse, and a reverse - reverse side. On the side, the surface of the coin is a edge.

The very first coins appeared in a highly developed culture ancient China in the middle of the second millennium BC. They were made of cast bronze. In the 7th century BC. The first minted coins appeared in the Mediterranean countries. The manufacture and minting of coins was a relatively simple matter, first the metal was melted and small round discs were cast, these discs were minted.

In antiquity, the development of coins took place by the Greek slave states, then by Ancient Rome and reached its peak during the period of the greatest expansion of the territory of the Roman Empire. The word "coin" is one of the names of the ancient Roman goddess Juno and at the same time the name of the first Roman mint at the temple of Juno on the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome.

When the first coins appeared, fakes also appeared. So in ancient Greece, this type of crime became widespread, in the 4th century. BC. in Athens, in the laws of Solon, for the manufacture of counterfeit coins, the death penalty was provided. Counterfeit coins were an everyday occurrence, the people knew the words carved on the wall of the sanctuary of Apollo in Athens: " It's better to fake a coin than the truth».

During recent excavations at one of the ancient Viking settlements in England, archaeologists found an old Arab silver coin, which turned out to be not silver at all, but made of copper with a thin silver coating, it was a skillful fake. It is believed that the main center of counterfeiting during the heyday of Ancient Rome was economically weak Egypt. For the first time, methods and techniques for verifying the authenticity of coins arose. When Antony arrived in Egypt, his retinue included experienced, as we would now call them, "specialists in the examination of coins."

The main metals for making coins for centuries were gold, silver and copper. The state or ruler who minted the money certifies both the accuracy of the weight and the fineness of the alloy of the coin. In history, you can find at least three ways to counterfeit coins. The first is the reduction in the weight of the coin, or the minting of an underweight coin. The second is a decrease in the content of the precious metal in the coin, or a decrease in the fineness of the coin. Sometimes such methods of counterfeiting are called "damage to coins." And the third way is the production of "gold" and "silver" coins from base metals. They were only given the appearance of genuine ones, sometimes they were covered with a thin layer of precious metal.

There were techniques for verifying the authenticity of coins. Simple with a knife, a piece of a coin was cut off and it was easy to install along the cut, real or fake. For example, only covered with a layer of precious metal. True, counterfeiters quickly found a way out: they themselves made an incision on a fake coin and silvered it. And they learned to do it a very long time ago. In addition to the knife, the coin was checked “for a tooth”: if the tooth does not take, then it is fake, since it was well known that gold and silver are relatively soft metals, and the teeth left a mark on them. The coin was tested for sound, thrown on a stone, if there was a sonorous, clear sound, it means that the coin is genuine, deaf - fake.

The manufacture of counterfeit banknotes, as well as the alteration of genuine ones, was detrimental to the state, and counterfeiters were always severely prosecuted in accordance with the laws. However, even the threat of the most severe punishment, and almost everywhere it was the death penalty, did not stop the counterfeiters.

The temptation to forge coins was also caused by the fact that the coins were originally minted extremely carelessly. Their shape was incorrect, the images on the obverse and reverse are unclear. This is explained both by the imperfection of technology at the mints of that time, and the lack of strict state supervision over the coinage and the state of monetary circulation.

Sometimes kings could not resist the temptation to enrich themselves by counterfeiting. The English king Henry VI used the discovery of his court alchemist in a very original way, who found that if you rub a copper coin with mercury, it is very difficult to distinguish it from a silver one. In order to replenish his treasury, the king without hesitation gave the order to make a batch of "silver" coins in such an unusual way. They were in circulation for a very short time: the deceived subjects were so outraged that they had to stop the "minting" of these coins.

Counterfeiters in the past also did not ignore gold coins. Alchemists - learned to create special metal alloys, very similar to gold, also drilled holes, filled them with fake "gold", and collected the drilled part of the coin for income. Making counterfeit money in the 17th-18th centuries in England it was commonplace. Sometimes even banks could not determine: where are the real ones, and where are the fake ones? The reason is that the production of banknotes was carried out so carelessly that it was not difficult to forge them. So it was until 1844, when a special law in England established a clear procedure for making money and introduced strict requirements for their quality.

The minting of coins was one of the most important prerogatives of the state. The issue was associated with the name of the new sovereign. Minting a coin was a sign of his rights, power, political success. For example, in the X-XI centuries. some of the oldest Russian coins were minted with the image of the ancient Russian prince on the throne and the signatures: “Vladimir on the table”, “Vladimir, and this is his gold”, “Vladimir, and this is his silver”.

The history of the production and circulation of Russian coins, which has already been ten centuries old, can be divided into several periods:

• coins of pre-Mongol Rus;
• payment bars of the coinless period;
• coins of the period of feudal fragmentation;
• coins of the Russian centralized state;
• coins of the imperial period;
• coins of modern minting.

The first 4 refer to the longest time - from the beginning of Russian coinage at the end of the 10th century. to completion monetary reform Peter I at the beginning of the 18th century. The time of issuing coins of the fifth category into circulation practically coincides with the period of existence of an absolutist state in Russia from the beginning of the 18th century. and until 1917. The coins of the imperial period are coins regular coinage with exact dating, indicating the name of the ruler, denomination and place of minting.

The earliest mention of counterfeiters in Rus' can be found in one of the Novgorod chronicles. In 1447, a certain “Livets and Vesets” (caster and weigher of precious metals) Fyodor Zherebets made a living by making hryvnias from defective metal. In Rus', as elsewhere, counterfeiting was punished, however, it did not stop.

By decision of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1655, copper coins were put into circulation with a face value of silver ones. And after some time it turned out that some money masters, who had previously lived poorly, quickly became rich with copper money. The reason for this became clear when illegally minted coins and the minted coins themselves were confiscated from them. Forgery of coins in Russia in the 17th century. turned into a real disaster. A huge amount of counterfeit copper money appeared. In addition, in Russia they also learned how to make "silver" coins by rubbing them with mercury. Such "coins" were not uncommon, and they were called "portutins". In the same period, “silver” coins appeared, made by coating copper blanks with tin (tinning).

Early 18th century It is known for the radical breaking of the money economy that had developed in Russia in the previous era. Reform of Peter 1 in 1698-1717 brought the Russian monetary system to the level of developed European countries. This reform gave the country convenient means of payment in the form of silver and copper coins, whose set of denominations was based on the decimal system. Manual minting of coins, which was the basis of Russian coin production, was replaced by machine. A copper coin, discredited by the previous reform of 1654-1663, was established in the internal monetary circulation of the country. A single monetary system was established throughout Russia.

The measures taken by the government were aimed at further adapting the monetary system to the needs of the state. Under the successors of Peter I, the financial economy of Russia was in a very neglected state. The state treasury was burdened by the extravagance of the empresses who succeeded on the throne, as well as by the huge costs associated with waging wars. These circumstances could not but affect the state budget, which was already chronically deficient. The main actions of the government in the field of monetary circulation were the opportunistic change in the weight norm of coins and the assay of the alloy of coins from precious metals, as well as an increase in the volume of coinage. So, over the 18 years that have passed since the appearance in Russia of the first coins of a new type, introduced by the reform of Peter I, the mint stop of a copper coin, which initially equaled 12.8 rubles. from a pood of copper, increased three times and by 1718 reached 40 rubles. from a pood (at a copper price of about 8 rubles per pood). As a result, the treasury was significantly replenished with additional profit, but extremely undesirable phenomena arose in the country's monetary economy. First of all, the simultaneous circulation of copper coins minted according to different weight norms led to the disappearance of full-weight copper coins from circulation, as well as silver and gold coins, which the population kept at home, and the treasury began to receive state taxes from lightweight copper coins. In addition, the market turned out to be flooded with counterfeit copper coins, the fabrication of which, after the introduction of the 40-ruble coin stack, became extremely profitable and was carried out not only within the country, but also abroad.

The first half of the 18th century was characterized by a sharp increase in the minting of copper coins for fiscal purposes. Having become the main means of circulation and payment, depreciated copper coins entered the treasury in the form of taxes and other payments. This reduced the overall effect of their minting and increased the financial difficulties of the government. For this reason, the ruling circles of Russia were forced to temporarily abandon further abuse of minting copper coins and reduce the content of pure metal in silver and gold coins. The government needed new sources of income, and above all through the issuance of new money into circulation. This source was the issue of paper money, carried out in Russia in the 60s of the XVIII century. Since that time, the coin in Russia began to circulate in parallel with paper banknotes - banknotes. Coins, primarily copper coins, are gradually turning into a bargaining chip for banknotes.

The constant increase in the number of banknotes in circulation, the issue of which was used by the government as a source of covering its expenses, inevitably led to a fall in the rate of banknotes in relation to gold and silver coins. In this regard, many owners of banknotes sought to exchange them for specie. Since by the end of the 80s of the XVIII century. to carry out exchange operations, the State Assignment Bank no longer had the necessary number of coins, the government was forced to suspend the exchange, and without issuing a special government act, which led to the disappearance of gold and silver coins from circulation, which became a means of accumulation.

The Manifesto of June 20, 1810 established the ruble as the universal legal currency for all payments in the country, with a pure silver content of 4 spools 21 shares (18 g), which became the basis of the monetary system of Russia in the 19th century. All previously issued silver and gold coins remained in circulation. Their value was expressed in relation to the new silver ruble. Somewhat later, the manifesto of August 29, 1810 finally determined the purpose of the copper coin, which was recognized as a bargaining chip. The introduction of a system of open minting of silver and gold coins was announced in the country: everyone could bring metal ingots to the Mint to make coins from it, no fee was charged for this. It was assumed that all these measures would serve to create a new Russian monetary system based on silver monometallism with the circulation of banknotes backed mainly by silver. However, after the invasion of Russia by Napoleon in 1812, when the war demanded huge material and monetary costs, the government was unable to complete the reform. Banknotes were recognized as legal tender, obligatory for circulation throughout the empire. All settlements and payments were to be made primarily in banknotes. The ratio between paper and metal money was established by private individuals, not by the government. In 1815, the exchange rate of the banknote ruble fell to 20 kopecks. silver.

Changes in the Russian monetary system based on the silver ruble were made in 1839-1843. In the course of this reform, depreciated banknotes were gradually replaced by state credit notes, which were subject to an equivalent exchange for silver. Copper money again acquired the role of a bargaining instrument with the silver ruble. The designation of the denomination of copper coins of the sample of 1839 contains an indication that these coins are equivalent to silver ones, for example: “2 kopecks in silver”. The main means of payment was the silver ruble. State banknotes were assigned the role of only an auxiliary banknote. They were to be received at a constant and unchanging rate. This course was 3 rubles. 50 kop. banknotes for the silver ruble.

On July 1, 1839, a decree "On the establishment of the Silver Coin Depository at the State Commercial Bank" was published. The deposit office accepted deposits in silver coins for safekeeping and issued in return deposit tickets for the corresponding amounts. Deposit box tickets were declared legal tender with the right to circulate throughout the country on a par with silver coins. With the help of deposit notes, 100% backed by silver and redeemable for it, the government sought to revive the confidence of the people in paper money. The government was not able to use the issue of deposit notes to increase the revenues of the state treasury, which required other principles of issue. A gradual transition to them was made in the process of issuing a new type of banknotes - the so-called credit notes, only partially covered with metal. Tickets were freely exchanged for specie and circulated on a par with silver coins.

The introduction of a system of silver coins with the circulation of paper money, 1/6 covered with metal, at the first moment contributed to the strengthening of the monetary system in Russia. However, in 1853 the Crimean War began, ending in a severe military defeat for Russia and the depletion of its finances. The issue of temporary issues of state credit notes was the main source of funding for military spending and covering the state budget deficit for the Russian government. This led to a fall in their exchange rate and caused serious difficulties with the exchange of credit notes for silver and gold. At the beginning of 1854, the government was forced to stop the free exchange of credit notes for gold. The exchange for silver was carried out intermittently. In 1858, it stopped, as the change fund could not provide everyone with specie. In search of a way out of this situation, the government since 1860 has been increasing the issuance of a token silver coin by reducing the content of pure silver in it by 15%: if, starting from 1764, the silver ruble in small coin contained 18 g of pure silver, now this content has decreased to 15.3 g. 50 rub. from the pud. Money circulation was clearly inflationary in nature.

At the end of the XIX century. For the stable development of the economy in Russia, preparations began for a monetary reform, the purpose of which was to replace the inflationary circulation of fiat paper banknotes with a system of gold monometallism with banknote circulation, the transition to which many developed capitalist countries have already made. The government embarked on a monetary reform, took a number of measures to gradually introduce the gold coin into monetary circulation, while striving to ensure a certain ratio between the credit and the gold ruble. In fact, gold coins participated in monetary circulation. However, in the country, formally, the silver ruble was still the monetary unit, which limited the scope of the gold coin. The first stage of the reform was the resolution in 1895 of transactions with gold. For such transactions, payment was made either in gold coin or credit notes at the rate of gold on the day of payment, on May 24, 1895, the institutions of the State Bank were allowed to buy and sell gold coin at the rate. In fact, this meant the establishment of the exchange of credit notes for gold. On January 3, 1897, it was found that 1 rub. gold was equal to 1 rub. 50 kop. credit cards. Thus, the transition to the system of gold monometallism was finally prepared, which was legally established from January 3, 1897.

In November 1897, the unlimited exchange of credit notes for gold was introduced, and they were given the status of legal tender on a par with gold coin. The basis of the monetary system Russian Empire became the golden ruble, which contained 17.424 shares of pure gold. In connection with the introduction of the system of gold monometallism, the silver coin was turned into an auxiliary means of payment.

Naturally, the silver and gold coins that were in circulation were constantly the object of interest of counterfeiters. Of course, the authorities took decisive steps to prevent counterfeiting of banknotes. For example, when drawing up new coin issuance programs, officials of the Ministry of Finance literally from the very first steps began to think about their protection. So, in the note of the Minister of Finance, dated February 1, 1867, “On the issue of a new token silver and copper coin for public circulation,” we read: “ To make counterfeiting more difficult, it is necessary to compile new, more beautiful drawings, adopting, among other improvements, two types of letters for the inscriptions on the coin: convex and depressed. These letters require different way preparation, and consequently great skill will be needed to make counterfeit stamps". It should be noted that, in addition to great art, the production of indented and convex inscriptions also requires complex technical devices, including powerful press equipment, which, of course, the counterfeiters did not have.

The system of gold monometallism with the circulation of credit notes existed in Russia until 1914. From the very first days after Russia's entry into the First world war the government began to use the issue of credit notes to cover the state budget deficit, and the law of July 27, 1914 eliminated the exchange of bank notes for gold. With the development of the inflationary process, the process of the disappearance of specie from circulation began. With the cessation of the exchange of credit notes for gold, the population began to hoard a gold and then a silver coin. Gold, silver, and subsequently copper coins completely disappeared from circulation and settled in the hands of the population and in the form of treasures.

After a long break, the coin returned to circulation already in Soviet time. At the final stage of the monetary reform of 1922-1924. A previously prepared silver coin in denominations of 10, 15, 20, 50 kopecks was put into circulation. and 1 rub. and a copper coin of 1, 2, 3 and 5 kopecks. Thus, the first monetary program of the USSR Government was implemented. However, at the end of the 1920s, it was finally recognized that the minting of coins from gold, silver and copper “eats up” a huge amount of expensive and scarce metals. This was understood even in pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1910-1911. The Ministry of Finance, together with the Mint, has developed a program to replace expensive silver in small coins with nickel alloys, which have been used since the middle of the 19th century. were successfully used in the monetary business by some European countries. In the future, coinage was planned bronze coins. Trial nickel coins were made in 1911, but the monetary reform was not completed: the war prevented, and then the revolution. It was carried out already in the Soviet period.

In the second half of the 1920s, the minting of copper and silver (coins) was still ongoing, the choice of material for new coins had already been made: bronze and copper-nickel alloy. , and the Leningrad Mint began their mass production at the end of 1931. In those years, the range of materials from which Russian coins are made was determined.

Add to bookmarks

Coin making is one of the most ancient arts. And like any kind of art, it has evolved along with man. Over the years, views on beauty have changed, technologies have improved, and the situation in the world has also changed. All this was reflected in the history of coinage.

Now the production of coins is an almost completely automated process. But how did a person come to this, and what stages did this ancient art go through? In this article we"let's go" on the history of coinage. We will tell you where the first coins appeared, what the old master medalists became famous for, and how coins are made today.

Ancient world

Before the creation of coins, people in different countries used what was of great value. Somewhere the medium of exchange was cattle, somewhere weapons, and in some countries they even used sugar and ivory. To streamline trade and exchange, a state means of payment was needed. They became coins.

Medal art originated at the end of the 8th - beginning of the 7th century BC. Coins first appeared in Lydia and Ancient Greece. They were made by chasing from an alloy of gold and silver and even put a test.

Medal art began to develop rapidly in Greece. Many works of that time have come down to us, but few names have survived. We know only those of them that were indicated on the coins. These are such masters as Kimon and Evaynet, who worked under Dionysius.

The profession of a medalist has become respected. In Rome, there were medalists at every mint, they had their own corporation and leader. In Greece, engravers were involved in creating designs for coins. They engraved the image directly on the precious stones.

Ancient coins, in comparison with modern ones, were distinguished by a high high relief and an irregular shape of a coin circle. At the same time, Roman coins were seriously inferior to Greek ones in terms of artistic beauty, but were closer to modern ones due to their roundness and bas-relief.

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages and until the Renaissance, the medal art of Europe was undeveloped: the coins had a flat relief, the coin itself was thin and looked like a metal plaque. True, there is an exception to this rule.

In the German states of the 12th century, coins were still of high artistic quality. And such bracteates received their heyday during the time of Frederick I Barbarossa.

Coin stamps were then made by professional engravers. The style of that era was even transferred to the coins - they can be attributed to the late Romanesque art. The coins depicted the figures of rulers and saints in a symmetrical frame of architectural elements. Although the figures were stylized, the small details on them were carefully worked out - armor, clothes, attributes of power.

Kievan Rus

In Kievan Rus, the coins of Prince Vladimir, Prince Svyatopolk and Yaroslav the Wise were engraved by Byzantine masters. But at the beginning of the 9th century, they stopped minting coins in Rus'.

There were several reasons for this: Rus' broke up into separate principalities, and there was no need for a single state coin. And later, during the yoke, there was an economic and political decline in the country. As a result, medal art was forgotten for a while.

Where the medallions for coins of the 13th-15th centuries came from remains a mystery. It is only known that under Ivan III, Aristotle Fioravanti was discharged from Italy. In addition to creating architecture, the master was also engaged in engraving coins.

rebirth

During the Renaissance, the monetary art of Europe was revived. Venetian medals and the name of the painter Antonio Pisano, who during this period cast medals for the Byzantine emperor, have come down to us.

Then other great masters appeared - Leone Leoni, Sperandio di Mantova, Maria Pomedello, Jean Duan, Annibale Fontana ... They made coins from bronze and relied on the style of antique samples.

In Germany of that time, the first religious scenes appeared on coins, thanks to Albrecht Dürer, Heinrich Reitz, Friedrich Hagenatzer and other great masters.

Russia

As for Russian coins, there were no elegantly engraved coins in Russia before Peter I. It was only under him that medalists began to be issued to Russia and orders were made to make coins. It was by order of Peter I that the first series of commemorative medals dedicated to the Great Northern War was created.

And in the time of Catherine II, for the first time, attention was paid to the artistry of making coins. At the same time, a medal class was founded at the Imperial Academy of Arts. It was led by the Frenchman Pierre-Louis Vernier.

Timofey Ivanov became the leading medalist of Russia in the 18th century. He made many medals and commemorative signs dedicated to historical events under Peter I and Catherine II.

Under Alexander I and Nicholas I, the talent of the medalist Count F. P. Tolstoy was noted. He made medallions dedicated to the events Patriotic War 1812.

About coin minting technology

The production of a coin always began with the creation of a sketch drawing. Then, according to the sketch, a stucco model was created from sculptural plasticine. This model was sculpted on the board with the help of special pointed sticks of different sizes. The sculpted model did not yet quite correspond to the future product - it was 3-4 times larger than the intended coin.

Then a plaster cast was cast from the model. And already from a plaster cast, a new casting was made from hard cast iron by electroplating. Further, a steel punch was made from a convex model using a pantograph - an engraving machine. Its format already corresponded to the designed medal or coin.

Then, if necessary, the master corrected the image with a engraver. After all, only using manual labor, you can give the product liveliness. Then the punch was hardened and used to extrude a matrix or stamp, with the help of which coins or medals were minted.

This technology for creating coins came to us from past centuries. Some mints still use it now, while others fully automate production. But there are many other processes in coinage that directly affect the appearance of the coin and its quality.

The quality of minting coins - what is the difference

The division of coins according to the quality of minting came to us from England. This classification divides coins into two main types: made in normal quality and in improved quality. Let's see what this difference is.

Coins of ordinary quality in the classification are calleduncirculated. In this capacity, they make coins that we use in circulation, as well as some investment coins.

They are made in automated production in large quantities and manual labor is used to a small extent. Therefore, the requirements for appearance and the design of uncirculated coins is small. They should be of the same weight, thickness and diameter, with a simple pattern. In general, what is just right for large print runs at low cost.

As a rule, uncirculated quality coins have a metallic sheen over the entire surface. They do not have mirror surfaces, the relief does not stand out, there are no small details in the drawings. According to the classification, small bevels on the edges of the edging, small scratches or spots are allowed on such coins. These damages appear due to minting in large quantities.

An improved form of uncirculated coins is calleddiamond-uncirculated. They have a smooth and shiny surface, the drawings are more detailed and elaborate. On such coins, chips or scratches are no longer allowed.

The next type of coin quality is the highest, orproof.Coins in this capacity are made in small quantities and with a high proportion of manual labor. Each stamp is carefully worked out by the master in order to obtain a smooth mirror surface and a matte pattern that contrasts on it.

The peculiarity of proof quality lies in the very process of chasing - in order for the pattern to be perfect, the stamp necessarily hits the workpiece twice. As a result, we get a product on which there are no scratches or bumps. Coins as proof are the most valuable: both for the artistry of execution and for the quality itself.

Another kind of coin quality isproof like, or similar to a proof. These coins are similar in appearance to proof, but the technology of their minting may differ. For example, the impact on the workpiece could be made once. Proof-like coins are also valuable and are in demand by collectors and numismatists.

Old masters and new school

Fyodor Tolstoy believed that true mastery in the manufacture of coins is impossible without a free command of graphics.

Only after creating the drawing, according to Tolstoy, it was worth starting to sculpt the model. This method of creating coins required from the master not only artistic knowledge, but the technical, professional skill of a real engraver. It was with this method of work that it was possible to preserve the individual handwriting of the master.

These foundations were known and passed on to the next generation. For example, in the medal class of the Imperial Academy of Arts, students studied not only drawing and sculpture, but also engraving on steel, as well as heat treatment of stamps.

Among the outstanding medalists who mastered the technologies of working with steel were F.P. Tolstoy, I.A. Shilov, K A. Leberecht, A.P. Lyalin, P.S. Utkin, V.S. Baranov.

Later, in the 19th century, some medalists began to confine themselves to making only sketch drawings. Engravers were already engaged in the execution of stamps. Thus, the medals lost their individuality, the artist's handwriting was lost.

Progress does not stand still, and now almost any coin production process is automated. All engraving work is done by special engraving machines, and the creation of a 3D model is handed over to designers. But unfortunately, not all of them have the experience and education of an engraver. After all, even after the most modern equipment, after creating a high-quality 3D model, it is necessary that the hand of the master touches the stamp. This is the only way to create a product that will have artistic value.

Engraving requires a very large amount of knowledge and skills, great experience, diligence, diligence. An art education is absolutely necessary so that the plots created by the hands of the master have artistic value, the products are alive. So that the portraits and figures of people depicted by the engraver have one hundred percent resemblance to the original.

Modern technologies of medal art dictate strict requirements for the relief of the medal. It should be such that its highest details are concentrated in the center of the composition, and then lowered. In this case, the height of the relief should be small. This state of affairs limited the artistic impulse of the sculptors and led to the loss of many technologies for sculpting medals.

The situation that occurred in the 2000s clearly reflects the state of affairs. The NATO delegation came to Russia on a visit and presented gifts to the General Staff of the Russian Federation. The Russian government decided to respond with worthy memorable gifts.

Employees of the General Staff turned to the best coin production in the country to make commemorative medals according to their own sketch. But they were refused, because they could not fulfill the order. The complexity of the work lay precisely in the relief. Its height was 1.5 mm per side (usually 0.6-0.8 on average), the diameter was 90 mm.

As a result, they turned to our jewelry house. Its founder Sergey Ivanovich Kvashnin agreed and in a month completed the entire scope of work. The stamp was made by hand. So it turned out that Vyatka is the center of medal art in Russia. The medals made by Sergei Ivanovich were presented by the General Staff to strategic partners and delegations of other countries.

At all times, jewelers involved in jewelry production were considered special people. After all, engraving is the highest skill of jewelry art. The engraver knows all jewelry techniques and techniques, but a jeweler who does not know engraving business will not be able to create a product of such a level as an engraver.

In any art, it is important to preserve traditions and know history. You can verify the continuity of quality by visiting our And also do not forget to update our blog so as not to miss new interesting articles.

Magazine FX Review

Where were the very first coins (surviving) made and got the best answer

Answer from DINAmovets In spirit [guru]
First coins
Coins are metal plates with a pattern indicating that they are money. The first coins were made in the 7th century. BC e. in Asia Minor, in the kingdom of Lydia (now the territory of Turkey) from electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver. To confirm the established weight of the pieces of metal, a pattern was stamped on them. The stamping process is called coinage. The minted drawing played the role of a seal, or brand, with which the ruler guaranteed the accuracy of the weight of the coin. The experience of making coins was successful and soon spread to Europe. It should be noted the appearance of other forms of metallic money: copper coins in the Northern Black Sea region and Italy, bronze
imitations of tools and shells in China, silver rings in Thailand, gold and silver bars in Japan.
First silver coins
Coins quickly spread throughout the Hellenic world. The emblems of the places of manufacture were often depicted on the coins. The lion is a symbol of Kariya in Asia Minor; vase, cuttlefish and turtle - the islands of Andros, Keos and Aegina. The beetle was the emblem of Athens. The date of issue of these coins can be determined: they were found in the foundation of the temple of the goddess Artemis (right) at Ephesus, built around 560 BC. e.
Cast copper coins
Copper ingots of a certain weight served as money before the start of making coins in Olbia (Northern Black Sea), Rome and some other Etruscan and Latin cities. Images were applied to copper ingots, which turned them into coins. In Olbia, coins were usually cast in round shapes, but sometimes they were given the appearance of a dolphin.
elephant coins
In Rome, the first ingots with images retained a rectangular shape. The Indian elephant on the board is reminiscent of the war elephants of the Greek army that captured southern Italy in 280 BC. e.
bizarre shapes
The first Chinese coins (about 500 BC) were made of bronze in the form of tools and cowrie shells, which previously served as money. Coins - tools for use in the economy were not suitable.
money-rings
In the pre-monetary period in Thailand, they paid with silver rings of a certain weight. In the 17th century rings began to be converted into coins: they were unbent, forged and branded with a state stamp.
bullion coins
At the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. Ieyasu, the future first Tokugawa shogun, transformed Japan's monetary system. His gold and silver coins in the form of forged or cast plates were very similar to the ingots of previous eras.

Answer from Onona[guru]
It is believed that the first metal coins appeared only in the VIII century BC. e. in China. They were minted from copper. A century later, the first gold coins were minted.
Their homeland was Lydia, a powerful slave state located in the western part of Asia Minor. However, the coins were not entirely gold. In Lydia, deposits were developed in which gold was in an alloy with silver. This alloy is called electrum. Coins were made from it.
The oldest coins whose date of minting is known are those minted in Lydia (Asia Minor) in 685-652. BC e. Herodotus is the first to mention this, reporting that the Lydians were "the first of the people ... who minted and used gold and silver coins ...".
Lydia carried on extensive trade with Greece and her eastern neighbours. Therefore, later the coins spread to the entire zone of Greek civilization in the Mediterranean and the Persian state.
In the era of mature slaveholding relations in Ancient Greece and Rome, gold and silver played a leading role in monetary circulation, although copper coins were also used in parallel with them.
For the convenience of settlements in trade transactions, the Lydians introduced into circulation a gold minted coin - a stater, on which a running fox was depicted - a symbol of the main Lydian god Bassareus.
However, the real golden circulation was introduced in the VI century. BC e. the legendary Lydian king Croesus, who minted coins weighing 11 g from gold placers of the Asia Minor river Paktol. They were called "creseids"
A century later, gold coins came into use in Persia. After the conquest of Lydia by the Persian king Cyrus, gold coins began to be minted in other countries of the Near and Middle East.
For example, dariki - coins of the king of Persia Darius I, on which he is depicted shooting from a bow, were widely used.
After the defeat of the Persian state in the IV century. BC e. Alexander the Great became richest man of all times and peoples, capturing no less than four thousand tons of gold from the treasuries of the Persian kings.
Naturally, in the Hellenistic era, the most reliable money was high-quality gold staters with its profile weighing 7.27 g.
From the III century BC. e. gold coins began to be minted in Rome. It was the Romans who were destined to call the new product a coin - the money yard was located in the temple of Juno-Coin, the products of the yard began to be called coins.
The appearance of gold coins in Russia is associated with the time of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. At the very end of the 18th century, in 1792, the first ancient Russian coin was found in Kyiv. It was found among church pendants to icons. It was the piece of silver of Prince Yaroslav the Wise.
And a few years later, the first Russian gold coin became known - the zlatnik of Prince Vladimir. The weight of the zlatnik is about 4 grams. From the zlatnik came the Russian unit of weight - the spool (4.266 g).
At present, it can be considered established that the minting of the first coins in Rus' began under Vladimir, at the end of the 10th century.
link