Dies of the Rouble of Constantine Paulovich
1825
Steel, height 175 mm, width 70 mm
(Photo from The State Hermitage Museum)
Numismatics
Invention of money was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest civilization achievements. This invention was crucial for economics and completely changed the people life. From philosophical point of view it was, probably, the first attempt to exchange real treasure with the abstract idea of valuables. Finally, coins are very nice...
I'm not going to explain here all these things. Rather, I just want to mention that investigating coins (and paper money for later period) is a very powerful and fascinating method to study history. Let me just give one example from Russian numismatics. Probably, the most famous and expensive Russian coin is so called “Rouble of Constantine” minted in St.Petersburg in 1825.
Dies of the Rouble of Constantine Paulovich
1825
Steel, height 175 mm, width 70 mm
(Photo from The State Hermitage Museum)
This coin is so eminent not only because of its extreme rarity (only 5-6 items survived), but rather due to political events which led to its manufacturing. The rouble of Constantine was minted during the brief interregnum (11/27-12/14 1825) after the death of Alexander the First. The coin displayed a portrait of Constantine Paulovich, the younger brother of Alexander, who apparently would be the new tsar. However, due to his abdication, the throne passed to his next brother Nicolas. These events were followed by a revenge of some part of Russian army (Decabrists revenge) and as a result the existence of the Rouble of Constantine was kept in secret for more than 60 years… (to be continued)