Saturday, 14 June 2014
History of Russian currency
The ruble has been the
currency in Russia for 500 years. The name ‘rouble’ is thought to come from the
Russian for ‘chop,’ literally referring to the way a section was cut off a
silver ingot, which was the very first incarnation of the currency, with each
section holding a different value depending on its weight.
There is no official
symbol for the rouble although many options have been suggested over the years,
including a ‘P’ with two horizontal stripes. However, the abbreviation ‘руб’ is
often used in writing.
In 1710 the rouble was
first divided into kopecs, 100 of which made up a rouble. Ten roubles are
sometimes referred to as ‘chervonets’, in reference to the Soviet gold
chervonets issued in 1923 that were the equivalent value.
There have been seven different
incarnations of the rouble, due to various drastic changes in the currency’s
value, with the most recent being released in 1998.
The FIRST rouble was in
place for over 200 years up to 1921 when it fell dramatically in value.
The SECOND rouble was
the first in the series of redenominations, swapping one ‘new’ rouble for
10,000 ‘old’ roubles. These were introduced in 1922.
A quick redenomination
took place the year after, valuing the new rouble at 1 to 100 of the former
roubles. This was the THIRD rouble.
In 1924, the FOURTH
rouble, known as the ‘gold rouble’, was introduced and lasted until 1947. This
one was valued at 50,000 of the previous issue of the rouble.
After the Second World
War the government attempted to reduce the amount of money in circulation by
imposing a confiscatory redenomination on paper money, which valued the new
rouble at one tenth the value of the fourth rouble.
From 1961 to 1997, the
SIXTH rouble was in circulation and the redenomination was based on the same
terms as the 1947 redenomination. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991,
the rouble remained the currency of the Russian Federation. During the early
1990s there was a period of hyper-inflation which meant the currency fell
significantly in value.
In January 1998 the
seventh rouble was introduced. It was valued at 1,000 of the previous roubles
in what was simply a psychological step. Later in the same year, the rouble
lost 70% of its value against the US dollar in just six months following the
Russian financial crisis of 1998.
In the 18th century,
the lower value roubles, such as half a kopek or a single kopec were made from
copper, while five kopecs up to 50 kopecs and one rouble coins were made from
silver. Five rouble coins were originally made from gold.
After the Russian civil
war, silver was used for lower value coins with gold chervonets minted in 1923.
In 1961 new materials such as aluminium bronze were introduced, along with
cupro-nickel-zinc.
In 1991 more modern
techniques were used, combining several types of metal to form new, bimetallic
coins in denominations including ten roubles. New coins were again released
after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Between 1769 and 1917
there were only Imperial issued bank notes, or ‘assignats.’ After 1917 the
provisional government issued bank notes, called Kerenki. Soon after, in 1918
state credit notes were issued by the RSFSR, followed by currency notes the
following year.
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