FROM THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAN METROLOGY

5O0th ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUSSIAN DECIMAL RUBLE

M. M. Maksimov UDC 389.1 : 336.440.2

The science of coins, numismatics, deals with meta l l ic money, smal l but very significant relics of the past, dis~ncrive historical sources which enabled us to celebrate this year the 5O0th anniversary of the Russian monetary system's dec imal structure.*

Money is indissolubly l inked with metrology. In various countries at different t imes pr imit ive forms of money consisted of ca t t l e , slaves, furs, shells, bronze swords, iron bars, meta l ingots, millstones, etc. Such money existed since the idea of counting was born.

A widespread use of weighed silver and gold as money arose with the concept of weight and the invention of balances. However, it was found more convenient to use money in the form of certain types of "weights," stamped pieces of precious metals with a determined weight for a given type, and then in the form of coins in the modern meaning of the word, i .e . , consisting of meta l discs of a given shape whose weight and standard are guaranteed by the state power.

Thus, coins comprise the concept of counting and weight. They form defini te systems which incorporate coins of several nominal values which have a constant gravimetr ic relationship to one another. The development of mone- tary systems had a bearing above al l on their metrological foundations consisting of gravimetr ic and counting rela- tionships of the systems' units. It can be said with certainty that monetary systems were the first off ic ia l ly legal ized technica l standards of weight and size which have obtained wide recognition and circulat ion within given states, and often outside the states which issued the coins.

Numismatics, as an auxil iary historical discipline, paved the way to a more precise definition and often dis- covery of certain historical periods which had previously remained comple te ly unknown. The discoveries and gener-

al izat ions of Russian and Soviet numismatists are of except ional importance. They have served to establish that the first elements of a dec imal system of measures arose and appeared in the Russian monetary counting and system.

The well-known numismatist I. G. Spasskii informed Soviet readers of the interesting ideas expressed by the Dane Peter van Havan, who l ived from 1715-1757 [1]. During three years from 1736 to 1739, van Havan lived in Russia as a tutor in a rich Russian family. He traveled over our country, visited Moscow, Azov, and other cit ies, and "observed the Russian customs. In 1743, he published in Copenhagen his book on "Travels in Russia," in which he ex- pressed his very important opinion that the Russian monetary system of that t ime was the most rat ional , buil t on sci- entific foundations, and highly suitable for ar i thmet ic , since i t was decimal . Van Havan's knowledge of the Russian monetary system gave rise to his opinion that dec imal principles should be applied in al l the metrological spheres, i .e . , to the measures of length, area, weight, volume, etc.

The bourgeois European and American historians, despite historical facts, ascribe the priority of adopting a dec ima l monetary system to the United States of Amer ica , although the relevant draft was drawn up, according to a Congress Resolution, by R. Morrison only in the eighties of the eighteenth century, and the coinage according to this system (dollars, dimes, and cents) was started in Philadelphia as la te as 1792, i .e . , almost 90 years after the dec- ima l system was adopted in Russia in 1700-1704. Perhaps R. Morrison did not know about the above-ment ioned opin- ions of van Havan, but the new Russian monetary system was well known by businessmen since 170% when the first description of the new Russian 50, 25, and 10 kopek pieces of Peter I minted in 1701 appeared in a Hamburg il lus- strated journal. There can be no doubt that the successful adoption in Russia of the new monetary system demon-

* We ce lebra ted this year the 50th anniversary of the metric system in our country, Up to the 20th century, measures also included valuables (coins). Therefore, the Editorial Board considered i t advisable to publish this ar t ic le which shows Russia's priority in establishing the most advanced system of dec imal monetary reckoning and a dec ima lco inage .

Translated from Izmer i t e l ' naya Tekhnika, No. 7, pp. 55-57, July, 1968. Original ar t ic le submitted March 19, 1968.

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strated its v iab i l i ty to the French Academy of Sciences when it was instructed by the Convention to draft a project

for a radical transformation on the dec ima l principle of the entire metrology, in which the monetary system formed

only a component part.

However, in the past the Russian monetary system differed considerably from the one studied by van Havan,

and the dec imal structure did not appear in i t from the beginning, but only in 1468, when written documents men- tioned for the first t ime its dec imal structure components.

The minting of the first Russian coin, the "denga," was started by Dmitri Donskoi. In the following approxi- ma te ly 100 years as a result of coin "damage" there appeared in Russia two types of money, consisting of the Nov- gorod coins and the Moscow "l ightweight" coins.

The then current Moscow l ightweight coins formed the foundation for the new Moscow "grivna," which in turn

was the basis for the Moscow "polt ina" known as the "f ive-gr ivna si lver ." The Moscow ruble was made up from two such pohinas.

The ear l ies t mention of a "f ive-gr ivna silver" was made in the charter granted by the Belozero prince Mikhai l Andreevich to the Cyri l monastery on February 3, 1468. This charter states in part icular: "I grant this char-

ter in return for their contribution to my treasury from col lec t ion to col lect ion at the rate of 10 rubles per year in f ive-gr ivna silver to be delivered by them in silver to my treasury." The description of a f ive-gr ivna silver is pro- vided a l i t t le later in a mortgage of the 15th century: "I, Vasyuk Noga, son of Esin, borrowed from the Troitsa elder of the Gerontii 8ergeev monastery two rubles and a quarter in Moscow current money consisting of five grivna for half a ruble," which indicates that a "f ive-gr ivna silver" is ca lcu la ted at the rate of five grivna per half a ruble, or ten grivna for a ruble. The old monetary reckoning which s t i l l remained in force in Novgorod consisted of 15 and 3/7 grivna for a ruble and 7 and 5/7 grivna for half a ruble.

It follows from the above documents that 500 years ago a new monetary reckoning based on a dec imal ruble, i .e . , the first monetary dec imal system,had arisen and spread in Moscow to such an extent that by 1468, contracts were concluded and charters granted on its basis.

In order to fac i l i t a te reckoning with Novgorod, Ivan III, in the first years of whose reign the ten-grivna ruble was adopted, was obliged to "readjust" the Moscow "denga" making it way above 0.4 g; i .e . , he started minting in

Moscow coins at half the weight of Novgorod coins. This is shown by the Novgorod chronicle of 1490: "the house- keeping duty to be paid on Christmas day in a Novogorod denga, on Passion day in a Moscow denga, on St, Peter 's day in a Moscow denga, and al l the new duties to be paid in two Novgorod dengas." Thus, there appeared coins of two nominal values, those of Moscow and of Novgorod. A ruble consisting of t0 grivna contained 200 Moscow den- gas or 100 Novgorod dengas. For this first t ime 100 dengas were counted in a ruble, and a 100-denga ruble had arisen.

In December, 1633, the th ree-year old Ivan IV Vasi l 'evich, who was la ter ca l led Terrible, became Grand Duke and his mother Elena Glinskaya became regent. Monetary reform was one of the first important undertakings of the new government.

The sofia chronicle reports in 1535: ~ . . . . at the t ime of Grand Duke Vasilii Ivanovich the coins carried the

image of the Grand Duke on horseback with a sword in his hand, whereas Grand Duke Ivan Vas i l ' ev ich commit ted to the coins an i m a g e of the Grand Duke on horseback with a spear (in Russian kop'e) in his hand, hence thename kopek." Thus, as a result of the reform of Elena Glinskaya there appeared a new term "kopek," as the new denga was henceforth caI1ed. The Pskov chronicle of 1537 states: "The engraved dengas were then reforged, and kopek coins forged." Side by side with the kopeks the minting of "sword coins" (half kopeks) and "polushki" (quarter ko- peks) continued.

The reform of Elena Glinskaya converted the ten-gr ivna ruble into a hundred-kopek ruble, which st i l l exists and is the forerunner of a l l the dec imal coinage in the world.

The kopek of Ivan the Terrible weighed about 0.68 g. Its weight was later reduced owing to the Polish and Swedish invasions. The new weight to which the kopek was reduced by the invaders had to be adopted by the leaders of the peoples ' mi l i t ia . The new weight of 0.48 g suitable for mint ing out of the old tenth of a silver rubles 400 new kopeks (instead of the 300 Ivan the Terrible kopeks) continued to exist at the t ime of Mikhait Fedorovich.

In 1654, an unsuccessful a t tempt was made to produce in Russia a monetary system based on a gold ruble equal in weight to the foreign thaler and a copper kopek minted with the silver kopek die. The die stamping of ruble pieces was technica l ly diff icult and was soon abandoned. Copper kopeks were at first wi l l ingly accepted , but the cost of copper was several times lower than that of silver and copper coins were produced in excessive quantity.

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" . . . silver coins were scarce in the country, a l l the prices for copper coins were high and many died of hunger." Al l this sharpened the class struggle in the towns and led to unrest and insurrections, the most important of which was that of Moscow in 1562, known as the "Copper Rebellion."

The government was forced to return to the minting of silver kopeks and coins of the former (pre 1654) type.

At the beginning of the 18th century in the reign of Peter I important reforms were carried out in the economy, state structure, and culture of Russia whose foreign pol icy became considerably more act ive. Continuous wars were waged. Al l this led to a rise in the budget.

Financial problems were closely related to thoseofcoins; up to tbat t ime Russian coinage was in a pitiful state. The counting was made in rubles, but there wasn't a coin for a ruble; only silver kopeks and a small quantity of half kopeks or denezhka were in circulat ion.

Such a monetary structure became a serious drawback for a country on the path of transformation. An imme- diate currency reform became imminent .

The problem was raised again of establishing in Russia a large silver coin equal in weight to the thaler and suitable for international trade, but divided into 100 kopeks, and thus having nothing in common with the latter. The copper kopek became, as at the t ime of Aleksei Mikhaflovich, the second basic unit of the system.

The first exper imenta l silver coin of the system was the half ruble piece of 1699. In 1701, a 25, ten, and a five kopek piece were also minted, the la t ter under the name of "ten dengas." In 1704, a three kopek p iece was also coined.

The minting of copper coins started in 1700. The silver kopek became in 1698 so light (0.28 g) that i t became

quite impossible to mint a silver denga or half denga. However, they had to be replaced by something new. There- fore, on March 11, 1700, "the great sovereign instructed to mint copper denezhkas (half kopeks) as well as half and quarter denezhkas, since in many secondary and other towns, owing to the lack of denezhkas for change and smal l trading, s i lver kopeks are cut in half or three parts and are used in trading as change instead of denezhkas. In Kolu- ga and other towns, leather and other lots are used for trading instead of silver denezhkas."

New copper coins worth 12 rubles 80 kopeks were produced in 1700 and 1701 from a pood of copper (pood = 86 lbs). Coins worth 17 rubles 40 kopeks and 20 rubies were produced from a pood of copper in 1702-1708 and 1704- 1717, respectively.

The main components of the system, the silver ruble and the copper kopek, went into circulat ion in 1704.

The nearest successors of Peter I preserved for a century his monetary system. At a la ter stage for the sake of convenience at various times several new nominal values of 1, 15, and 20 kopeks were added to it, and the less used values of 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 of a kopek and 25 kopeks were withdrawn from circulation.

The priority of the Russian dec imal system of counting money and dec imal coinage cannot be disputed. The Russian ruble, a model for the monetary and coinage systems of almost al l the countries of the world, has been for the last 500 years a forerunner of al l the dec imal systems of weights and measures.

1.

L I T E R A T U R E C I T E D

I. G. Spasskii, "Origin and history of Russian counting," in Co11.: His tor ic -Mathemat ica l Investigations [in Russian], ed. 5, Moscow (1952); Russian monetary system [in Russian], Leningrad (1962).

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