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2020-12-24 Other articles >

Gold coin 10 rubles 1899

Weighing 1.5 times less than the coin '10 rubles in gold 1897'


In the 90s of the XIX century, Russian gold coins with a portrait of Emperor Nicholas II replaced gold coins with a portrait of Emperor Alexander III – this always happens after the death of reigning persons.

What was unusual in this process was that the change of the sovereign Emperor coincided with a large-scale reform of the monetary circulation of the Russian Empire, which went down in history under the name of its ideological inspirer and organizer – the Minister of Finance (1892-1903) S. Yu. Witte.

Since the Kankrin reform (1839-1843), the monetary circulation of the Russian Empire has functioned according to the principles of the silver standard: silver coins were legal tender, gold and copper coins received their monetary value in silver, paper money was converted into silver coin.
Witte's reform changed the monetary metal-silver to gold – in several stages:
  • on may 8, 1895, the State Council adopted a document 'On transactions concluded on Russian gold coin', which allowed payments to be made in gold coin.
  • In the same year, 1895, all branches of the State Bank received the right to accept gold coins to current accounts and the right to make payments in gold coin - the state assigned gold the function of a means of payment.
What specific gold coins were we talking about?
Imperial (12.90 grams) and semi-Imperial (6.45 grams) - these coins minted in 1895-1897 were the first swallows: they reproduced Imperials and semi-Imperials of Alexander III of the same weight, but with a portrait of Nicholas II. The coins were minted respectively '10 rubles in gold' and '5 rubles in gold' - this was a trial issue, but this was exactly how the new gold coins of the Russian Empire were seen at the beginning of the reform.

In 1897, in accordance with the Law 'on the minting and issuance of gold coins', the ruble was devalued: its gold content was lowered, and the gold Imperial weighing 12.90 grams with the inscription '10 rubles in gold' began to correspond to 15 rubles in the new calculation, and the semi – Imperial-7.50 rubles. And coins with such an unusual denomination - gold 15 rubles and gold 7.50 rubles - were additionally minted in the same 1897.
An unusual denomination – it is not only unusual, but also inconvenient. In 1897, they began to mint gold coins with the usual face value of 10 rubles (8.60 grams) and 5 rubles (4.30 grams), and the minting of coins with a face value of 15 rubles and 7.50 rubles was stopped.

The gold coin of 10 rubles took root in the Russian Empire for a long time: it was minted in 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1909, 1910, 1911. It even got the name - 'matildor' by analogy with the French gold coin 'Louis d'or' (louis d'or-Golden Louis): the place of the king of France in the name of the coin was given by popular rumor to the wife of the Minister of Finance, Matilda Ivanovna Witte: for some reason, the Russian elite fell for this female name at that time.
10 gold Nikolaev rubles – how much is it at that time?at the beginning of the XX century, an elementary school teacher received 40 rubles a month, a Junior officer-70 rubles a month, and sturgeon' first freshness ' cost 1 ruble per kilogram.

The 10 gold rubles coin in the photo is a birthday present - not for me, but for my sons: this post will save them time searching for information on the Internet... And on my own behalf, I can assure them that they did not get a new model of 1925-1926 to pay for foreign trade operations of the RSFSR, but a 'matildor' of the Royal coinage.

Золотая монета 10 рублей 1899 г.

Краузе Y# 64

10 рублей 1899 г., Российская империя

Country : Российская империя
Denomination : 10 рубль
Year : 1899
Mint : Санкт-Петербургский монетный двор
Circulation : 27 600 013
Material : Золото
Weight : 8.6
Diameter : 22.5
Alexander R.

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