Siberian coin

In 1763, the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty sent a request to the office of the Kolyvano-Voznesensky factories about the possibility of using copper, which is obtained as a by-product from smelting silver and gold from ore, for minting a copper coin. The factory office reported that there is enough copper (more than 500 tons, which should be enough for 4 years of minting, and taking into account the copper mined for this period - for 5 years), but there remains a certain amount of silver and gold ("... not a small number of silver and a noble particle of gold ”, according to initial calculations, their share was 0.79% for silver and 0.01% for gold per pound ), and therefore minted a copper coin from it in the usual foot (16 rubles from puda ) "... not only unprofitable, but also regrettable." The president of the Monetary Department, the actual state adviser I. Schlatter , calculated the stops for the Kolyvan alloy based on the existing monetary stops for copper, silver and gold coins. The silver content corresponded to 7 rubles. 35.59 kopecks, gold - 1 rub. 1.02 kopecks, copper - 15 rubles. 87 kopecks Total was 24 rubles. 24 kopecks from the pond, but in case precious metals get a little more, Schlatter rounded the foot to 25 rubles.

On December 5, 1763, Empress Catherine II issued a decree on the circulation of a new copper coin ^[2] , the circulation of which was limited only to the territory of the Siberian province. The decree was accompanied by an image of new coins. Coins of ten-, five- and two-kopeck denominations were supplied with the inscription “Kolyvan copper” along the edge ; later this inscription was replaced by the letters KM on the obverse .

The Siberian copper coin was minted at the Suzunsky Mint since 1766 and was in circulation from the city of Tara in the west to Kamchatka in the east and was not recognized in the European part of Russia . Generating annually coins for 250-300 thousand rubles, the Suzunsky Mint not only quickly saturated the market of Siberia and the Far East, but also caused a number of difficulties. The fact is that the state treasuries accepted silver and silver taxes from peasants, and therefore the peasants, in their turn, also sold their goods only for silver. Merchants who came to Siberia also refused to accept the Siberian coin. As a result of this, the Siberian coin rate is falling, and the revenues of the tsar’s cabinet are declining. And the Cabinet finds a way out for itself in the fact that since 1781 the Suzunsky Mint has the right to mint an all-Russian coin.

Due to the improvement of silver smelting technology, the total content of precious metals in Kolyvan copper decreased on average to 0.59% by 1768 (silver had already been added to preserve the value) and to 0.39% by 1778. The factory office proposed to mint a coin on a 20-ruble foot, but in the end it was decided to stop minting a special Siberian coin.

On June 7, 1781, a decree ^[3] was issued on ceasing minting of Siberian copper coins and switching to national stamps and a 16-ruble foot “without any offset of small particles of gold and silver contained in that copper”. The previously minted Siberian coin remained in circulation.

The first batch of Siberian coins was issued in 1766 and amounted to 23,277 rubles 52 ½ kopecks. In total, Siberian coins were issued for 3 656 310 rubles, in some sources the number 3 799 661 rubles is indicated.

The Siberian coin has on its front side the monogram of Empress Catherine II in a laurel wreath under the crown , and on the back there is a coin price designation and a date written on a cartouche ^[4] , supported by two sables . At the top there is a circular inscription: "COIN SIBERIAN." In 1763 and 1764, stamps were made for some varieties of Siberian coins; its existing instances with these dates are “ remake ”. The issue of Siberian coins lasted from 1766 to 1781 , in this last year only 10 kopecks were knocked out ^[5] .

• I.G. Spassky (1970) believed that silver was absent in most copies of the Siberian coin, and the beginning of coinage - in 1763.
• A.N. Dyachkov and V.V. Uzdenikov (1978) believed that the beginning of minting was connected not with the composition of the material, but with the high cost of delivering the finished coin from the existing mints. They considered the coins of 1764 authentic, minted in St. Petersburg as samples.
• V.V. Uzdenikov (1986) carried all the coins of 1763-1764. to originals minted in St. Petersburg.

• V.V. Uzdenikov - Coins of Russia 1700-1917 (1986, PDF) (unavailable link)
• Siberian coin.