The birth of the ruble as a currency, that is as an object of exchange and not merely as a reference of coinage weight, is attributed to the wide monetary reform that began in 1690 by Peter I. The need to transform the monetary system, which until then had been rather nebulous and disjointed, into one that was more rational and similar to those being used in Europe, resulted from the greater opening of the tsarist empire into Western Europe, and the consequent increase in trade with the rest of the continent.

In fact, in 1654, there was already a significant precedent. Tsar Alexis I (1645- 1676) attempted an initial monetary reform by ordering the transformation, through a process of reminting, 893,620 German thalers into a Russian coin of the same size. This was followed by an attempt – much less onerous from a technical and economic point of view – of imprinting a countermark directly onto the German thalers. Today these coins are quite sought after, despite their value not being extremely high due to their poor craftsmanship.

Both attempts were successful, but the increasing tsarist power and the need to use the currency as propaganda as well as a way to bolster the sovereign – not only at home but also abroad – convinced Peter I (1682-1725) of the need to revolutionize the current monetary system according to Western standards. Set up in 1690, the reform gradually developed and began to pay off between 1700 and 1701 with the minting of new denominations in copper and the first in silver – starting by replacing the lowest values, before finally completing the series at a later date. It is within this process that the aforementioned first silver ruble was established in 1704, depicting the bust of Peter I in profile on the front of the coin and the Romanov double-headed eagle on the back. Inspired by Western coinage, this coin differs in a very significant detail: the writing isn’t in Latin, as was common, but rather in Russian, so as to be understood at home. Throughout the reign of Peter I the silver ruble never changed from an aesthetic point of view, as demonstrated by the 1720 specimen that went on auction at Bolaffi’s on 5 and 6 December. For gold coinage, we have to wait until 1718 with the minting of a 2-ruble coin popularly known as the Golden Andrew, because Saint Andrew’s image was on the back. But the issuance of gold coins was still very irregular and only found greater stability and continuity under the reign of Elizabeth (1741-1762), who had gold coins produced even in large denominations, such as the much soughtafter 10-ruble, minted both in Moscow and in Saint Petersburg and sold at the numismatics auction in December.

From the reign of Elizabeth onward there were more and more regular issuances in gold, until reaching widespread use in the late1800s thanks to the strengthened Russian financial situation and an improvement of socio-economic conditions. In 1895, not by chance, the government approved a reform introducing gold coins into regular circulation. Tsarist ruble coinage spans two centuries of history, with a wide variety of designs, denominations and metals. In the 1800s they even started minting commemorative silver and platinum coins, which is why today these specimens are highly sought after and sell well. The market continues to grow, both nationally and internationally; many examples, even with prestigious pedigrees, have been offered up at past Bolaffi sales arousing the interest of collectors and professionals in the field and fetching important results.

By Gabriele Tonello