Russian ruble

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ruble or rouble (Russian: рубль, plural рубли́; see note on spelling below) is the name of the currency of the Russian Federation and the two self-proclaimed republics, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It was also formerly the currency of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire prior to their breakups.

One rouble is divided into 100 kopeks, kopecks, or copecks (Russian: копе́йка, plural копе́йки).

The ISO 4217 currency code for the Russian ruble is RUB; the former code, RUR, refers to the Russian ruble prior to the 1998 denomination (1RUB=1,000RUR).

As yet there is no official symbol for the ruble, though R^{[1] [2]} and руб are currently in use. РР and an R with two horizontal strokes across the top have both been put forward as possibilities.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Traditional denominations 2.1 History 3 History 3.1 First Ruble, Antiquity - December 31 1921 3.2 Second Ruble, January 1 1922 - December 31 1922 3.3 Third Ruble, January 1 1923 - March 6 1924 3.4 Fourth (Gold) Ruble, March 7 1924 - 1947 3.5 Fifth Ruble, 1947 - 1961 3.6 Sixth Ruble, 1961 - December 31 1997 3.6.1 Note 3.7 Seventh Ruble, January 1 1998 - 4 Nicknames 5 Coins 6 Banknotes 6.1 Note 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Etymology

Main article: ruble

The word "ruble" is derived from the Russian verb рубить, rubit, i.e., to chop. Historically, "ruble" was a piece of a certain weight chopped off a silver ingot (grivna), hence the name.

[edit] Traditional denominations

The ruble had a unique sequence of denominations: 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 kopeks, and 1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 rubles. This tradition can be traced back to Imperial time. The cut off points between coins and banknotes vary from time to time. In addition, the color theme of the banknote portion of this lineup remained consistent for more than a century:

• 1 ruble: brown
• 3 rubles: green
• 5 rubles: blue
• 10 rubles: red
• 25 rubles: lilac
• 50 rubles: green
• 100 rubles: brown

[edit] History

The denominations that are multiples of 3 began to appear in 1828, around the time of the fourth partition of Poland. In order to integrate the ruble into Poland, coins were denominated in both Russia ruble and in Polish złoty. The fixed exchange rate at that time was 0.15 ruble = 1 złoty, therefore a coin of 10 złotych was also 1.5 ruble.

The word złoty eventually disappeared (until Poland regained its sovereignty).

This is a rather difficult consistency to maintain given the undesirable inflations and unstable politics that happened in the 20th century. This tradition finally came to an end with the fall of the Soviet Union.

See also Currency of Three

[edit] History

[edit] First Ruble, Antiquity - December 31 1921

The ruble has been the Russian unit of currency for about 500 years. From 1710, the ruble has been divided into 100 kopeks.

The amount of precious metal in a ruble varied over time. In a 1704 currency reform, Peter I standardized the ruble to 28 grams of silver. While ruble coins were silver, there were higher denominations minted of gold and platinum. 1 ruble was equal to 18 grams of silver for most of the time. The gold ruble introduced in 1897 was equal to 0.774235 g of gold or 2⅔ French francs. At the time of the First World War, the ruble was revalued three times in three years.

[edit] Second Ruble, January 1 1922 - December 31 1922

The 1922 redenomination was at a rate of 1 "new" ruble for 10,000 "old" rubles. Only banknotes were issued, in denominations of 1 ruble to 10,000 rubles

[edit] Third Ruble, January 1 1923 - March 6 1924

The 1923 redenomination was at a rate of 100 to 1. Again, only paper money was issued, ranging from 10 kopek to 25,000 rubles. In early 1924, just before the next redenomination, the first paper money was issued in the name of the USSR featuring the state emblem with 6 bands around the wheat, representing the language of the then 4 constituent republics of the Union: Russian SFSR, Transcaucasian SFSR (Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Georgian), Ukrainian SSR and Byelorussian SSR They were 10,000 rubles, 15,000 rubles, and 25,000 rubles.

[edit] Fourth (Gold) Ruble, March 7 1924 - 1947

The 1924 redenomination introduced the "gold" ruble at a value of 50,000 rubles of the 1923 issue. This reform also saw the introduction of the chervonets (червонец), worth 10 rubles. Coins began to be issued again in 1924, whilst paper money was issued in rubles for values below 10 rubles and in chervonets for higher denominations. Two further redenominations occurred in 1947 and 1961.

[edit] Fifth Ruble, 1947 - 1961

Following World War II, the Soviet government implemented a confiscatory redenomination of the currency to reduce the amount of money in circulation. This only affected the paper money. Old rubles were revalued at one tenth of their face value.

[edit] Sixth Ruble, 1961 - December 31 1997

The 1961 redenomination was a repeat of the 1947 reform, with the same terms applying. The Soviet ruble of 1961 was formally equal to 0.987412 g of gold, but the exchange for gold was never available to the general public. The ruble is no longer linked to a gold standard. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ruble remained the currency of the Russian Federation. During the period of high inflation of the early 1990s, the ruble was significantly devalued. 5 series had been issued:

Coin Series of the Sixth Ruble
Series	Value	Composition	Obverse	Reverse	Issuer
1961	1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 kopeek, 1 ruble	1, 2 kopeiki: brass 3, 5 kopeek: aluminium bronze 10 kopeek - 1 ruble: copper-nickel-zinc5	State emblem	Value	USSR
1991	10, 50 kopeek, 1, 5, 10 rubles	10 kopeek: copper clad steel 50 kopeek - 5 rubles: cupronickel 10 rubles: ring: ?                  center: aluminium bronze	Kremlin
1992	1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 rubles	1, 5 rubles: brass clad steel 10, 20 rubles: cupronickel or cupronickel clad steel1 50 rubles: ring: cupronickel                  center: aluminium bronze 100 rubles: ring: aluminium bronze                    center: cupronickel	2-headed eagle emblem of the Bank of Russia		Bank of Russia
1993	50, 100 rubles	50 rubles: aluminium bronze or brass clad steel 100 rubles: cupronickel

Banknote Series of the Sixth Ruble
Series	Value	Obverse	Reverse	Issuer	Languages
1961	1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 rubles	Lenin or views of the Kremlin	Value, and views of the Kremlin for 50 rubles or higher	USSR	15
1991	1, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 rubles				Russian2
1992	50, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000 rubles			USSR for 1000 rubles and lower Bank of Russia for 5000 and 10000 rubles	Russian
1993	100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, 10000, 50000 rubles	Kremlin with the tri-color Russian flag		Bank of Russia
1995	1000, 5000, 10 000, 50 000, 100 000, 500 000 rubles	Same design as today's banknotes, where 1 new ruble = 1000 old rubles. See below.3, 4

[edit] Note

1. The 10 and 20 ruble coins of the 1992 series are also available in 1993. However, the composition is not associated with the year for 10 rubles. Therefore, there are 4 permutations for 10 rubles. 1992-cupronickel-clad-steel combination does not exist for 20 rubles.
2. Except for the 50 rubles and the first edition of the 100 rubles, where all 15 languages were written.
3. 1000 old ruble note did not continue as 1 new ruble note. The 1000 ruble note of the 1995 series showed the seaport of Vladivostok and the memorial column on obverse and the entrance to Vladivostok on reverse.
4. This is the first series in modern time where the majority of buildings and landscapes portraits are outside of Moscow.
5. The one ruble coin is practically identical in size and weight to a 5 Swiss franc coin (worth approx. 3 EUR / 4 USD). For this reason, there have been several instances of (now worthless) ruble coins being used on a large scale to defraud automated vending machines in Switzerland. ^[3]

[edit] Seventh Ruble, January 1 1998 -

1 ruble 1998
Value	Emblem of the Bank of Russia

The ruble was rebased on January 1, 1998, with one new ruble equaling 1,000 old rubles. Rebasing did not solve fundamental economic problems faced by the Russian economy at the time, and the currency was devalued in August 1998 following the Asian financial crisis. The ruble lost 70% of its value against the U.S. Dollar in the 6 months following August 1998.

See also Russian financial crisis.

All Russian paper money is currently printed at the state-owned factory Goznak in Moscow, which was organized on June 6, 1919 and has continued to operate ever since. Coins are minted in the Monetny Dvor mint in St. Petersburg that has operated since 1724 and in Moscow.

In November of 2004, the authorities of Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk Oblast) erected a five-meter monument to the ruble.

[edit] Nicknames

In the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, the coins of kopeck denominations had individual names: 2 kop.= semishnik (mostly obsolete by XX century), dvushka(XX century) or grosh, 3 kop.= altyn (mostly obsolete by the 1960s), 5 kop.= pyatak, 10 kop.= grivennik, 15 kop. = pyatialtynny (5 altyn; the usage lived longer than "altyn"), 20 kop. = dvugrivenny (2 grivenniks), 50 kop. = poltina or poltinnik. Also fractional denominations existed: the ¼ kopeck was called a Polushka, and the ½ kopeck was called a Denga or sometimes Denezhka.

The amount of 10 rubles (in either bill or coin) is sometimes informally referred to as a chervonets. Historically, it was the name for the first Russian 3-ruble gold coin issued for general circulation in 1701. The current meaning comes from Soviet golden chervonets (советский золотой червонец) issued in 1923 that was equivalent to the pre-revolution 10 gold rubles.

All these names are obsolete. Nowadays the practice of using old kopeck coin names for amounts of rubles has very common usage. In modern Russian slang only these names are used:

• Pyatyorka (пятёрка) for 5 roubles banknote
• Chirik (чирик) simplified "chervonets" for 10 roubles banknote
• Poltinnik (полтинник) for 50 roubles banknote
• Pyatikhatka ('пятихатка) for 500 roubles banknote. Originally pyatikatka (пятикатка). The term is derived from "пять кать" (five Catherines). Katya (катя, Catherina) was a slang name for 100 roubles bill in tsarist Russia, as the bill had a picture of Catherine II on it. Катя for a 100 roubles bill is hardly ever used now, but the derivative, пятикатка, for 500 roubles has lived till nowadays. A misspelled variant пятихатка became the most widely used due to the phonetics of the Russian language.
• Shtuka or Kusok (штука, кусок, the thing, the piece) for 1000 roubles banknote and generally amount of 1000 roubles

[edit] Coins

Currently, the ruble coins exist in the following denominations:

Currently Circulating Coins [1]
Denomination	Diameter	Weight	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse	First Minted Year
1 kopek	15.5 mm		Cupronickel-steel and Cupronickel	Plain	Saint George	Value	1997
5 kopek	18.5 mm
10 kopek	17.5 mm		Brass 1997-2006, Brass plated steel 2006-	Milled	Saint George	Value	1997
50 kopek	19.5 mm
1 ruble	20.5 mm	3.25 g	Cupronickel	Milled	2-headed eagle emblem of the Bank of Russia	Value	1997
2 rubles	23 mm	5.1~5.2 g		Broken reeding
5 rubles	25 mm	6.45 g	Cupronickel-copper				1997

1 and 5 kopek coins are rarely used. Note that these coins began being issued in 1998 despite the fact the some of them may bear the mint year "1997".

[edit] Banknotes

Since the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian ruble banknotes and coins have been notable for their lack of portraits, which traditionally were included under both the Tsarist and Communist regimes. With the issue of the 500 ruble note depicting a statue of Peter I, and then the 1000 ruble note depicting a statue of Yaroslav the lack of recognizable faces on the currency has been partially alleviated.

1997 Series [2]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Color	Obverse	Reverse	Printed Date	Issued Date	Watermark
		5 rubles1	137 × 61 mm	Green	The Millennium of Russia monument on background of St. Sofia's Cathedral in Novgorod	Fortress wall of the Novgorod Kremlin	1997	January 1, 1998	"5", St. Sofia's Cathedral in Novgorod
		10 rubles	150 × 65 mm	Dark-green and dark-brown	Bridge across Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk, Chapel	Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric plant		January 1, 1998 20012, 20043	"10", Chapel
		50 rubles		Blue	Sculpture at the foot of the Rostral Column on background of Petropavlosk Fortress in Saint Petersburg	Former stock exchange building			"50", Peter and Paul Cathedral
		100 rubles		Brown-green	Sculpture on the portico of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow	The Bolshoi Theatre			"100", The Bolshoi Theatre
		500 rubles		Violet-blue	Monument to Peter the Great, sailing ship and sea terminal in Arkhangelsk	Solovetsky Monastery			"500", Peter the Great
		1000 rubles	157 × 69 mm	Blue-green	Monument to Yaroslav I the Wise and chapel of the Yaroslavl kremlin	Church of Precursor in Yaroslavl		2000, 20043	"1000", Monument to Yaroslav I the Wise
-	-	5000 rubles		Red-orange	Monument to Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky in Khabarovsk	Bridge of Amur		June 2006	"5000", Head of the monument to Muravyov-Amursky
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimeter, a standard for world banknotes.

[edit] Note

1. 5 ruble note is uncommon, being replaced by 5-rouble coin
2. Banknotes of the 2001 revision bear the fine print "модификация 2001г." meaning "modification of year 2001" on the left watermark area.
3. Banknotes of the 2004 revision also bear the similar fine print. But more importantly, new security features have been added. They include (but not limited to):

• Moiré pattern: The area appears to be one color from one angle, stripes from another angle.
• Wider metallic thread
• Microperforation (100 rubles and above): Denomination numeral formed by dots (small laser perforated holes in the paper)
• Color shifting ink (500 rubles and above): The emblem of the Bank of Russia for 500 rubles, and the city emblem of Yaroslavl for 1000 rubles.

There are now a 10 rubles jubilee and commemorative coins (bimetallic).

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[edit] See also

• Petroruble
• Belarusian ruble
• Transnistrian ruble
• Ukrainian hryvnia

[edit] References

• Albert Pick (1996). Neil Shafer, George S. Cuhaj, Colin R. Bruce II (editors): Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues to 1960, 8th ed., Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-469-1.
• The Global History of Currencies - Russia

1. ^ http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/currency_table.html
2. ^ http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/europe/russia?a=facts
3. ^ (German) "Mit alten Rubelmünzen Automaten am Zürcher HB geplündert", Swissinfo, 15 November 2006.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Money of Russia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Money of the Soviet Union

• Goznak official site
• Wad Nensberg's Russian Banknotes
• Banknotes of Russia
• History of Russian Currency
• Coins of the Russian Federation
• Russian Banknotes 1898 - 1917
• Foreign Currency Market | Bank of Russia

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