Zdeněk Nechanický
Russian coinage is exceptionally attractive to collectors due to its antiquity, scope, and peculiarities. The first coins were minted in the territory of Kyivan Rus at the end of the 10th century by Prince Vladimir (980 - 1015). These were gold and silver coins (zlatniks and srebreniks) of Byzantine type with Slavic inscriptions and the Rurikid trident. They were issued primarily for political and representational reasons. They are very rare, and the first specimen was discovered in 1792.
The era of political fragmentation of late medieval Russia into a number of principalities and free cities left numismatists with a large number of small silver and copper coins, many of which have not been identified to this day.
Russia was the first in the world to introduce the metric system into its monetary system; in earlier times it used an unusual hand-striking technology for minting coins (wire - "drot" coins); during Tatar rule, dengas with Tatar-Russian inscriptions were issued; high denominations were replaced by yefimkas (countermarked European thalers); chervontsy (ducat-type issues used as awards) were minted; the Catherine mint issued full-value high copper denominations (plates - "plity"); the so-called "Potemkin" coins have survived (Aurea, 6th auction, no. 205); a system of marking the nominal value for illiterates was introduced, as well as special dating using Slavic numerals, both according to our calendar and sometimes from the "creation of the world." In the second half of the 18th century, a dual currency existed concurrently - mutually exchangeable gold and silver circulating coins and at the same time abundantly issued paper money, exchangeable only for copper coins. In the first half of the 19th century, massively minted platinum coins. Another great interest are provincial issues in distant or recently conquered areas (Siberia, Georgia, the Baltic, Moldavia, Prussia, Finland, Poland). Furthermore, various emergency currencies, primarily the famous copper tokens for the beard tax (borodovyje znaki). A considerable number, mostly unique, trial issues were minted, which were then not realized, and in the 19th and 20th centuries, a series of artistically very successful commemorative coins were issued.
Besides these interesting aspects, Russian numismatics is marked by a unique negative global peculiarity - the so-called "novodels". They are not forgeries (they were minted in official state mints), but at the same time they did not have the function of circulating currency. It is appropriate to quote here the doyen of Russian numismatics, Dr. I. G. Spassky:
"An unattractive peculiarity of the coin fund of Russian numismatics and a distinctive feature in the history of Russian collecting are the so-called 'novodels' - predominantly imitating rare Russian coins, made to order for high-ranking collectors or the Ministry of Finance in state mints. This unusual production was banned in 1890, after protests from collectors. Novodels are a special kind of collector's coin. The client of the mint, having supplemented his collection with a novodel, knew what he was buying it for; however, during the further movement of the coin from hand to hand, the distinction between an 'honest novodel' and a 'dishonest forgery' often disappeared. Often, the difference between this novodel and a very valuable original coin became blurred."
Novodels, also called "novoshtampelnýe monety" among Russian collectors, were minted in the St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Warsaw, and Suzun mints. They did not originate at the time the original coins were minted and were intended exclusively for collections, whether private collectors' or museums or various exhibitions. Already during the 18th century, some very rare coins from the 16th and 17th centuries, often existing perhaps only in a single specimen (gold kopecks, rouble and polupoltinnik - quarter rouble of 1654, yefimki of 1655, chervontsy, etc.), were minted in limited quantities using old dies. A novodel of the copper poltina - half rouble of 1654 did not appear at that time because its existence was not known. In the second half of the 18th century, within the framework of commemorative celebrations of Peter the Great, his commemorative medals were re-minted in various metals using both original and newly made dies. It was then that the first hybrid issues from old and new dies also appeared. From surviving archives from 1788, it is known that in the then still existing Moscow mint, 32 pieces of old dies were preserved, which were also used for minting novodels.
The making of novodels in the Yekaterinburg mint, specialized primarily in the production of copper coins, had a distinct character. Their minting began later, only in 1840, because before that date, obsolete dies were ordered to be destroyed. In that year, the Ministry of Finance issued an order to produce a collection of coins minted in Siberia in the years 1757 - 1840. The engravers of the Yekaterinburg mint manufactured all the necessary dies, with which all ordered coins were then struck. After processing the order, these dies were again destroyed by order of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna.
In 1856, the ministry again needed several collections of Yekaterinburg coins, this time from 1726, from the second year of minting large copper plates - "plity" (from kopeck to rouble). Once again, die cutters, according to old coins, manufactured a huge number of dies for all years of the Yekaterinburg mint, and if they did not have original old specimens as models, drawings served them. The dies were not destroyed this time, and besides a number of private orders, four similar collections of coins as in 1856 were produced as late as 1870.
Especially in the second half of the 19th century, novodels of coins were also acquired by more common collectors through the administrative management of the mints or unofficially through mint masters. An even freer way of acquiring novodels was with medals. With preserved dies, anyone could have any of the medals struck in any metal. In 1890, the Ministry of Finance issued a ban on minting novodels. However, this does not end the history of these special issues. The last novodels originated under different conditions, after the end of the civil war under communist rule. The Bolsheviks then desperately needed "hard" foreign currency, and one of the means to acquire it was the re-minting of tsarist coins. The outbreak of World War I affected the minting of coins from precious metals, so in 1914, against the original plan, only 300 specimens of the commemorative Gangut rouble were minted. A year later, the last tsarist rouble of 1915 was minted, and the Ministry of Finance allowed only 600 pieces to be issued. Around 1927, these rare coins appeared in larger numbers on Western numismatic markets, sold by the Soviet state through the Soviet Philatelic Association. According to the advertising catalog of this institution, these coins were sold in unknown quantities in three versions (normal minting, polished, and mirror-like finish). For the same purposes, in May 1927, minting was also carried out using preserved dies of all copper trial coins of 1916, and at an unknown time, the re-minting of the commemorative rouble of 1913 (300 years of the Romanovs) also took place.
Novodels of Russian coins minted before 1890 can, according to their specificity, be divided into a whole series of groups. All are typical for their origin in state mints, careful minting, and, since they were not intended for circulation but for museums or collectors' collections, also excellent preservation. Due to the limited number of minted novodels, almost all are rare.
We divide them as follows:
Coins minted with preserved original dies. Usually indistinguishable from the original coins. With excellently preserved ones, we can infer the possibility of novodels.
Coins minted using a combination of original and newly made dies.
Coins minted with newly made dies based on original coins. In some cases, if the original did not survive, dies were engraved according to pictures. On some novodels, the edge was changed or left smooth.
Imitations of coins of a certain type, but also of a year that was not minted in the given mint.
Imitations of coins of a certain type, but without the mint master's mark or with his initials without indicating the mint.
Hybrid issues minted with dies of two different coins.
Hybrid issues minted with dies of a coin and a medal.
Fabrications - invented coins that never existed.
Coins minted with original but altered dies, e.g., by punching or in some cases even by subsequent manual adjustment.
Coins with an edge altered by punching.
Coins from the same dies with several edge variants.
Some gold coins also have novodels in silver and copper.
Some silver coins also have novodels in gold and copper.
Some copper coins also have novodels in silver.
Coins minted from silver often had better grain than the original originals.
In some cases, a different production technology was used. For novodels of copper plates - "plity" from 1726-1727, rolled copper sheet was used, whereas originals were minted on a forged copper sheet.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, there were a number of private mints for which forging old Russian coins, presented either as originals or as novodels minted in state mints, was a very profitable commodity. The volume of minting of these forgeries far exceeded the numbers of minted novodels. The products of these mints are of high quality and genuinely threaten many collectors. In recent decades, during times of more intensive contact between our collectors and Russian ones, a considerable number of these "gems" of Russian numismatics have arrived in our territory.
A group of, in their own way, interesting romantic fabrications also belongs to this group of forgeries. Authors of Russian historical novels influenced counterfeiters, who produced on a large scale a series of never-existent coins of some prominent historical figures. These were, for example, a rouble of Tsarina Sophia, a portrait rouble of Y. Pugachev, a copper coin of S. Razin, roubles of Peter I 1702 and 1703, etc.
The term "novodel" in its broad meaning passed from the Russian language into Western Europe and America, where collecting Russian coins is a popular discipline. With increased demand for more valuable Russian coins, interest in novodels has also increased, now accepted as valuable collector's specimens. Unfortunately, novodels listed in Western catalogs are sometimes not actual issues of official Russian state mints but come from counterfeit workshops.
The work by V. V. Uzdenikov "Monety Rossii 1700 - 1917", Moscow 1985, allows for the identification of novodels. The author in his publication utilized all the funds of the Hermitage, including archival materials and various old lists of novodels. In the catalog section, he carefully distinguishes recognizable ones with the term "NOVODEL" and those that were minted with original dies and merge with the originals, marking them only with the letter "N". The only shortcoming of Uzdenikov's excellent work is the differing numbering of the catalog section in the first Russian edition (1985) and the second edition with English text (1992).
