After a brief month long hiatus I am back to writing updates to my coin collection. This time it is two very small coins from the frosty lands of Russia.
Both coins are known as ‘wire money’ due to the way they are created. A strand of silver wire is cut into pieces and then beaten flat with the design to be imprinted. A method inherited from the Tartar overlords of the Golden Horde who controlled much of Russia during it’s early history. Russian peoples would adopt the same practice in the 1360’s, imitating the Mongol coins, before eventually designing their own.
Both coins I acquired come from infamous rulers of Russia. The coin on the left dates from the mid to late 16th century and comes from the reign of Ivan IV, more commonly known as Ivan the Terrible. The coin on the right dates from the late 17th century from the reign of Peter I, again, more well known as Peter the Great. Both of these rulers have much history dedicated to them, and I could write a very long post detailing everything about it. However, since this is a blog aimed more towards numismatics, I instead would like to focus more on the history of wire money itself.
During the early reign of Ivan IV (1530’s) Russian coinage was reformed. Coins weighing just over half a gram were minted in Novgorod, and would feature a horse and rider wielding a spear. These coins were known as kopeks and that is what is shown in the pictures here.
Sadly the coin dating from Ivan IV’s reign is badly struck, so you can only just see the spear and front of the horse. In Russian, the word “spear” is similarly close to the word “Kopek”, and it is often assumed that is how the coin got it’s name. However this etymology is often disputed. Modern Russian coins feature an updated version of the rider carrying a spear, continuing the tradition.
Whilst Novgorod was minting kopeks, in Moscow a smaller coin was minted which was valued as half a kopek. These coins were called ‘denga’, the plural of which is ‘dengi’ and is the word that is still used today in Russia to refer to money.
Originally the amount of dengi in circulation was much higher than that of kopeks, but by the reign of Peter I it had flipped. This was due mainly to heavy devaluation of the coinage, with silver kopeks dropping in weight to just over a quarter of a gram by 1717 when it was discontinued. It would be replaced under Peter I’s coin reforms by the Rouble. Becoming, at the time, one of the most advanced monetary systems in Europe based on the decimal system.
Kopeks however, would still be minted during this period, but no longer out of precious metals. In fact, the kopek would continue to exist until 2009 when minting for circulation would finally cease. By the time of it’s final year the value of a kopek had diminished so much it would roughly equate to 1/60th of an American cent.
Numismatic Exploits 