The
fur of small fur animals has long been one of the main types of monetary substitutes. It was highly valued in other countries, which allowed for a profitable trade. Also known as a substitute for money were
small cowries shells (
Cypraea). But nevertheless finds of skins and shells come across not so often. The basis of all the treasures dating back to this period were foreign
silver coins. Together with the emergence of the first ancient settlements in the late 8th - early 9th century, foreign coins appeared on
Slavic lands of
Eastern Europe. The formation of money circulation started when active trade in
Northern and
Eastern Europe with the countries of the
Caliphate began.
Eastern European countries, deprived of large ore reserves of monetary
metal, actively imported
silver. In the first third of the 9th century,
coins (
dirhams) which were minted in the
African centers of the
Caliphate and which reached
Rus' via the
Caucasus and
Central Asian trade routes became widespread in Kievan Rus'. As the currency of Kievan Rus', kuna was 1/25 grivna in the 10th–11th centuries, 1/50 grivna before the beginning of the 13th century. A “Kuna system” has taken shape: 1 kuna = 2 g of silver = 1/25 grivna = 2 rezanas = 6 vekshas.
Grivna The grivna was the monetary and weight unit in Kievan Rus'. It was used, in particular, to measure the weight of
silver and
gold (from which its monetary equivalent appeared). The golden grivna was 12.5 times more expensive than the silver one. It is the first weight unit referred to in
Rus' chronicles.
Veksha Veksha (squirrel, veveritsa) is the smallest monetary unit in Rus' from the 9th to 12th centuries. It was first mentioned in
The Tale of Bygone Years; also it was mentioned in the
Russkaya Pravda. It was equal to 1/6 kuna. Silver veksha weighed about 1/3 grams. In real money circulation, 2 vekshas were equal to Western European
denarius. The translators of
Byzantine authors identified veksha with the
Byzantine copper coin “
Nummi”. Proponents of the so-called fur theory of monetary circulation in Kievan Rus' consider the Veksha to be tanned
squirrel skin, which was used simultaneously with its coin counterpart (part of the silver Arab
dirham). The name Rezana (рѣзана) is derived from the verb REZAT'(рѣзати) and originated from
Old East Slavic. When dirham received the name “Kuna”, the equivalent of a part of kuna was called “rezana”. Fragments of dirhams (1/2, 1/4, etc.) are often found in treasures. The fragmentation of dirhams indicates that the whole coin was too large for small trade transactions. In the 9th century. Rezana was equal to 1/50 of the grivna, in the 12th century equated to kuna due to the fact that kuna became twice as light and was not 1/25, but 1/50 grivna. Kuna and rezana existed in parallel, but gradually the counting on the kuna became more common. Rezanas existed until the 12th century, when the flow of silver
dirhams from
Muslim countries finally dried up.
Rus' coins Zolotnik The zolotnik (also
zlatnik, in both cases sounding like a Sultan - whose face might have been engraved) was the first
gold coin, minted in
Kiev in the late 10th and early 11th centuries, shortly after the
Christianization of Kievan Rus' by
Vladimir the Great. The real name of these coins is unknown; the terms "zolotnik" and "zlatnik" are traditionally used in
numismatics. It is mentioned in the text of the
Rus'–Byzantine Treaty of the year 911 of the Prophetic
Oleg. 1 zlatnik was 1/35 of kievan gold grivna. The mass of Zlatnik (about 4.2 g) was later used as the basis for the Russian weight unit, the
zolotnik. The appearance of coinage in Rus' was the result of the revival of trade and cultural ties with
Byzantium. The obvious model for Vladimir's Zlatniks was the
Byzantine Solidus of the emperors
Basil II and
Constantine VIII, which are similar to the Zlatniks by weight (about 4.2 grams) and the arrangement of images.
General information It has been repeatedly suggested that the start of minting in Rus' of its own
coin (gold and silver) did not so much meet the requirements of the
economy (money circulation in Rus' was provided by imported
Byzantine,
Arab and
Western European coins; there were no sources of monetary metal in Rus') but the significance of the
Kievan Rus' state. Silver coinage continued at the beginning of the 11th century under the reign of
Svyatopolk and
Yaroslav, however, the coinage of Zlatniks after the death of
Vladimir no longer resumed. Judging by the small number of copies that have come down to us, the release of Zlatniks was extremely short in time (perhaps one or two years) and small in volume. However, all currently known copies of Zlatniks found in treasures, along with other coins of that time, bear traces of being in circulation - therefore, these coins were not ritual, award or gift. In the 11th century, judging by the findings of these coins in the treasures in
Pinsk and
Kienburg, Zlatniks also participated in international money circulation.
Description of the coin type Reverse: a chest portrait of
Prince Vladimir in a hat with pendants topped with a cross. Bent legs are schematically shown below. With his right hand, the prince holds a cross, his left hand on his chest. Above the left shoulder is shown a characteristic trident, a generic sign of
Rurikovich. Around in a circle
Cyrillic inscription: ВЛАДИМИРѢ НА СТОЛѢ (
Vladimir on the throne). On two coins from known 11, the inscription is different: ВЛАДИМИРѢ А СЕ ЕГО ЗЛАТО (
Vladimir and his
gold). Obverse: the face of
Christ with the
Gospel in the left hand and with the blessing right hand. In a circle inscription: ІСУСѢ ХРИСТОСѢ.(
Jesus Christ).
Srebrenik Srebrenik (also - Serebryanik) - the first silver coin
minted in
Kievan Rus' at the end of the 10th century, then - at the beginning of the 11th century with arbitrary weight from 1.73 to 4.68 g.
General information The issue of the coin was not caused by real economic needs (the trade network of Kievan Rus' was served by Byzantine and Arab gold and silver coins) but by political goals: the coin served as an additional sign of the sovereignty of the Christian sovereign. Srebreniks were issued in small quantities and not for long, that's why they did not have a big impact on monetary circulation in Kievan Rus'. Arabian silver coins were used for minting. Srebreniks were minted in Kiev by
Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (978-1015),
Svyatopolk (c. 1015) and
Yaroslav the Wise in Novgorod (until 1015). A separate group is formed by coins of the
Tmutarakan prince
Oleg Svyatoslavich, minted in 1083–1094.
Description of the coin type Compositions of pieces of silver are divided into several types. Srebreniks of the first issues basically repeated the type of
Byzantine coins (the front side is the image of the prince, the back side is the image of
Christ). In the 11th century, the image of
Christ was replaced by a large patrimonial sign of
Rurikovich. A legend was placed around the portrait of the prince: “
Vladimir on the throne, and here is his silver”. Srebrenik of
Yaroslav the Wise differed from the described appearance. On one side, instead of Christ, there was an image of
St. Georgy (Christian patron of
Yaroslav), on the other - the patrimonial sign of
Rurikovich and the inscription: “
Yaroslavs silver” without the words “on the throne”, which gives reason to attribute their release to the period of
Yaroslav's reign in
Novgorod during the life of
Vladimir Svyatoslavovich.
Yaroslav's Srebrenik is a unique phenomenon in the coin production of Europe of the 11th century in relation to the masterful execution of a coin stamp, sometimes even causing suspicions that these are later fakes. A completely different type is represented by the
Tmutarakan coins, on one side of which was an image of the
Archangel Michael, and on the other side the inscription: “Lord, help Michael”. The technique of making Srebrenik has its own characteristics. Circles were not cut from the plate (as in the
Byzantine and
Arabic coins), but were molded. == Coinless period from the 12th century (commodity-money) ==