What can banknotes say about their people? (Что могут банкноты рассказать о людях?)

K. A. Panteleeva, T. G. Shabratskaya

Municipal Autonomous Educational Institution
Secondary School No. 11, Bor, Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia

WHAT CAN BANKNOTES SAY ABOUT THEIR PEOPLE?

Every day we use money but few of us think what and why is depicted on the notes. Nobody knows exactly who and when invented money.

The history of money has already begun since VII-VI centuries BC and it continues to this day. However, nowadays we begin to switch to electronic money and paper notes lose their value. Perhaps paper bills will completely go out of use in the near future. That is why, it is very important to remember what they look like and know what information banknotes from different countries contain.

So, the main function of money is the same in all countries. This is the equivalent of the cost of various goods and services. However, money (including paper one) has its own peculiarities in different countries. We will try to analyze and compare the features of the modern Russian currency (namely, paper rubles) and the US currency – dollars – as the most common and popular currency on the world market.

The history of name ‘dollar’ begins from Germany. There in 1519 they started to mint new silver coins – thalers. The merchants liked them very much and soon thalers have spread all over the world.

At the end of XVIII century, North-American continent was inhabited by Europeans. German coins were popular in the USA. After the declaration of independence and the adoption of the Constitution there was no need for foreign money anymore.

In 1785 they started to print the new currency.  The same term ‘thaler’ was used for the name.

Until the spring of 1861, there was no Central Bank in the United States, so issue of money was not regulated. When the Civil War began, the government had to launch printing of new banknotes. Then $60 million was issued in bills of 20, 10 and 5 US dollars.

The design of these bills has not changed for more than 200 years. New patterns began to appear at the end of the XX-beginning of the XXI century. The colour scheme was changed, new security elements were added, new forms of numbers appeared. But, according to tradition, the front side is decorated with portraits of politicians and presidents, and the other – with images of historical places.

As for modern Russian banknotes, it needs to be mentioned that they do not have the coat of arms of the state (unlike banknotes of other states). Instead, the main symbol of the state is present on the banknotes – a double-headed eagle. Let's pay attention that he is not crowned and his wings are lowered. Such an eagle means a Provisional Government. Currently, it is the emblem of the Central Bank of Russia.

Absence of a coat of arms on Russian money is explained by the fact that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is a structure independent of the Russian Government. It independently determines the design of money and this design symbolizes the attitude of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to the government and, in general, to Russia.

From the point of view of legislation, this is permissible. The law on the State Emblem says "The State Emblem of the Russian Federation can be placed on: banknotes…" – so there is no indication of its mandatory use.

But there is another, more radical explanation for the lack of a coat of arms on Russian banknotes. Many experts believe that as a result of the defeat in the Cold War with the United States, the Soviet Union completely lost its financial independence. Through the reform of the Central Bank, the dollar subdued the economy of the former USSR, turning it into the economy of a colony. The Central Bank is "a private organization registered in the United States, the District of Columbia. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is a branch of the US Federal Reserve System that collects money to send it overseas."(1). According to this version, in 1991, Russia, as a defeated country, was forbidden for 25 years to print its coat of arms on banknotes and indicate the country where they were issued.

In 2016 (after 25 years) the Russian coat of arms appeared on coins, and in 2017 – on new banknotes in denominations of 200 and 2000 rubles. Other banknotes, which will be issued before 2024, are also supposed to have a coat of arms.

The design of modern banknotes was developed by the Honored Artist of Russia Igor Krylkov. Initially, he planned to place portraits of outstanding compatriots on the money – as they do in many countries. But the Central Bank has proposed a different ideology. Russian banknotes were not personalized. All the images on the bills are associated with holy places and religious culture. Each bill represents not only material value, but also carries a symbolic meaning, perpetuating important objects of Russia's cultural heritage. At the same time, the synthesis was made very beautifully: through Russian cities, where historical figures are depicted in the form of real monuments.

Why did the Central Bank abandon the idea of depicting outstanding people’s portraits of the country on banknotes? There are also different answers to this question. For example, one representative of Ukraine is sure that Russia is simply afraid that it will be accused of "embezzlement" other peoples’ heroes, while naming Sergei Korolev and Vladimir Korolenko. But we still hold the opinion that this is due to a sense of patriotism and a desire to emphasize the achievements of the whole people.

So, the theme remains the same – the cities of Russia. The central Bank decided that since the line includes eight banknotes (the ninth – a five-ruble note – has not been used since the early 2000s and is only formally considered valid), it is logical to dedicate each of them to one of the eight federal districts.

Comparing American and Russian banknotes we tried to find out what they can say about their people. And here are the points we paid attention to in our research.

Firstly, due to the fact that the history of our country has many more centuries than the history of the United States, our money (and even its name) has changed much more often. Russian money changed the size and images on them.

Secondly, modern Russian banknotes depict historical places of our country, famous monuments, but there are no images of famous people, as was initially assumed. Portraits of US presidents and other prominent personalities are traditionally presented on American dollars (on the front side).

Thirdly, the composition of paper bills differs, and since this is a state secret, it is impossible to compare them. The common thing in their manufacture is that the inventors of the composition solve the same tasks: money must be wear-resistant (in order to serve longer), their composition cannot be forged, and they must have several degrees of protection.

But the most important difference is that there is no image of the state emblem and the name of the country that issued these banknotes on the currency notes of Russia. However, as it was said earlier, the new banknotes, which will be issued in 2022-2024, are supposed to have the coat of arms of Russia. We would like to hope that this will be an indicator of the financial independence of our country.

We can conclude that, for the most part, banknotes of the Russian Federation and the USA are identical in their main functions, approach to the manufacturing process but they differ in the images, they have different semantic load, different content. If the emphasis on dollars is on individuals, then we emphasize the achievements of the entire people, the result of common labor. This, in our opinion, expresses the centuries-old collective thinking and the habit of acting together in our country, and the more autonomous, independent thinking of Americans.

Bibliography

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2) Почему на российских банкнотах нет российского герба? [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://www.9111.ru/questions/7777777771520613/  (дата обращения 17.09.2021)

3) Тайны ЦБ. Хозяин ЦБ РФ – неизвестен, но власть его – безгранична.  [Электронный ресурс]. URL:  https://pikabu.ru/story/taynyi_tsb_khozyain_tsb_rf__neizvesten_no_vlast_ego__bezgranichna_4902565 (дата обращения 30.09.2021)