“Kerenki” – garbage money, which was measured by arshins and heated stoves with them. Tell me why they were so disliked
Citizens who believe that they experienced real inflation in the 90s, I dare to reassure you that you have not seen real inflation. I will show the money most despised by the people in history in recent times, which “glorified" one surname. It is unlikely that readers have come across “Kerenki”, unless among you there are vampires and “Duncan MacLeods”.
With this publication I want to start a series of articles about paper money based on the “motives” of my modest collection.
If only I could get to the store…
First, a few words about the insatiable Moloch of the economy – hyperinflation.
Hyperinflation, like a person's agony, is a harbinger of the inevitable – a default on debts for the state (this is in the worst case, if resuscitators-financiers did not keep up). There is a crisis in the country, bankruptcies begin, a compensatory mechanism is turned on – barter (two axes for a pig), a lifesaver from the time of the primitive communal system, prices are rising, the population is impoverished (greetings from the early 90s). Naturally, money turns into ordinary paper, which cannot be adapted even for natural needs.
A textbook example of hyperinflation occurred in the Weimar Republic in 1921-23. The German man in the street received a salary twice a day and it's good if he managed to spend it on food. Those who were unlucky had to cover the walls with paper stamps.
Beloved fraulein will come home, and I will surprise her … I made new wallpapers.
The most "hellish", though short-lived, hyperinflation happened in 1946 in Hungary, when prices doubled every 15 hours. They issued a bill of sextillion (a billion trillion, or 10 to the 21st power of pengyo)
And you envied the “millionaires” Belarusians when they had bunnies and squirrels in their wallets.
"Augean stables" for Kerensky
The Provisional Government had an unenviable share in 1917. The economy is in decline, the First World War continues, the tsar was told – “Come on, goodbye!”, confusion and vacillation, the mood among the people resembles bread dough, which is ready to leave the container.
The high costs of the fragile state republic forced the Provisional Government to turn on the printing press. Before the October Revolution and the incident with the travesty from the Winter Palace (the author does not believe in this myth), more than 16.5 billion conventional units were issued.
Geek? And I, by the way, tried to save the state!
There were not enough old-regime banknotes, so the Provisional Government began issuing new liberal banknotes:
1000 conditional units (they were nicknamed “dumka” because of the image of the State Duma)
not in the collection, so the photo is from open sources
250 conventional units
To keep up with the times, the coat of arms was changed. The artist Bilibin took away the crown, scepter and orb from the eagle. By the way, today this “naked eagle” is the emblem of the Bank in recent times.
In early August, A.F. became the chairman of the Provisional Government. Kerensky. August 23 is an epochal date, he launched the release of new treasury signs in denominations of 20 and 40 conventional units, the sharp-tongued people dubbed them “kerenki”. And everything began to spin … © A. Averchenko
Hurry up – make people laugh
What turned this money into “persona non grata”?
The provisional government introduced new money in such an emergency mode that there was no time for frills.
For the “Kerenok” they smartly “designed” a drawing of ten-ruble stamps of the old-style consular mail. The inscription "Consular duty" was replaced with "Treasury badge".
They did not bother with the protection of banknotes and typical attributes: they left primitive watermarks (in the next article I will show what watermarks were on the royal banknotes), there was no number, series and year of issue.
– Excuse me, but where are the signatures of the manager and cashier of the State Bank?
– Citizens, cool down – now is not the time. need more money lately!
How can such pieces of paper (61×50 mm) be trusted? For scale, I attached a flint and flint. It's a pity that the collection has only two signs of 40 conventional units.
Although the “Kerenki” were formally backed by gold, in fact… well, you understand me.
Small kerenki (20 and 40 rubles) went into circulation in whole sheets of 40 pieces (5 × 8). Such an employee came to the office, and his salary was cut with scissors. Others tore it off, so a frequent picture is jagged edges on money.
photo from open sources
Me, grand merci, wrap the seeds in kerenki
The Russian Republic continued its uncontrollable fall into the arms of Bolshevism. With the growth of hyperinflation, they stopped bothering with cutting into separate bills. What's the point? They began to pay in whole sheets.
Such a peasant goes to the market, carries a load of turnips. He successfully bargained and is already carrying a whole cart of banknotes back.
“Two arshins of kerenok I will throw the
black-eyed one, I
will put the knife in the handle,
I will jump right away.” ©Nikolai Klyuev
Cases are described when they kindled a stove, so the value of “kerenok” was so small that the name became a household name for a contemptuous designation of money.
Paradise for counterfeiters
The inscription on the Kerenka – "Forgery is prosecuted by law" can not be called otherwise than sarcasm. Seriously? After all, money without security marks? Would that stop anyone?
Therefore, all and sundry forged massively small bills, or rather, those who had access to printing equipment. In every major city there was an underground workshop where unskilled businessmen printed “kerenki” with different colors on unsuitable paper. Some did not bother and printed one-sided … Perhaps, an illiterate peasant will be able to slip.
A typical example of fake kerenki. The paper is like wrapping paper.
This was the last straw. Kerenki finally lost the confidence of the population.
✔ If the reader thinks that the Kerenks are the heritage of the “temporaries”, then this is not so. The bulk of the banknotes were already issued in the RSFSR, and only in October 1922 did they lose their solvency. By January 1921, they printed 21,764.5 million conditional units!!!