The question of qualitative criteria of banknotes, of course, is not as relevant as, say, their quantitative expression. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to understand what metals and alloys were used for the production of bargaining chips throughout their use in Russia.
Precious money
From century to century, a variety of metals have been used to issue coins. Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, three basic metals have been used for this - primarily, of course, gold, silver, and also copper. Beginning in 1828, platinum joined their ranks. However, platinum coins did not last long. Already in 1845, they completely ceased to be produced, and the used ones were withdrawn from circulation.
Until 1926, there were no changes in the issue of bargaining coins. In the same year, copper in coins was replaced with aluminum bronze. Silver money was issued right up to 1931, and then cupronickel money came to replace them. From this we can say that a new era of coin production began, in which precious metals completely replaced alloys from non-precious metals.
Bronze and brass coins
An alloy called aluminum bronze (95% copper and 5% aluminum) was used for minting coins in denominations of one, two, three, five kopecks during the 26-57 years of the twentieth century. The main advantage of such coins is that they were harder than their copper predecessors.
Brass coins were cast from an alloy of copper and zinc. They were also quite hard, but still less mechanically stable than aluminum bronze coins. The alloy brass was used in the USSR from 58 until 91 of the last century for the production of coins in denominations of one, two, three and five kopecks, and in 1991, ten kopecks coins were cast from brass. In 92-93 years of the end of the 20th century, fifty and one hundred ruble coins were produced from brass in Russia. Since 1997, brass coins of ten and fifty kopecks have appeared, and this alloy is also used now in bimetallic ten-ruble coins.
Cupronickel and nickel
Cupronickel is an alloy of copper, zinc, nickel in a ratio of 3: 1: 1. This alloy is very resistant both chemically and mechanically. In the period from 31 to 57 years of the last century, it was used for minting ten-, fifteen- and twenty-kopeck coins. Since 1997 - for coins in denominations of one and five kopecks and for five-ruble coins.
Copper-nickel alloy is less resistant than cupronickel. It was used to issue coins in denominations of ten, fifteen, twenty and fifty kopecks and ruble coins in the years 58-91 of the 19th century. In the period 92-93, coins of ten, twenty, fifty and one hundred rubles were minted from this alloy. Since 1997, in Russia, coins have been produced from this alloy in denominations of one and two rubles.
Modern coins
Now they produce steel clad coins of ten and fifty kopecks (the steel is coated with a copper alloy), and ten-ruble coins are electroplated from brass, while coins in denominations of one, two and five rubles are nickel-plated.
In the turning point of the ninety-first in the USSR, a bimetallic coin was first issued - a ten-ruble coin. The difference between bimetallic coins is that their outer part and inner insert are made of different alloys.
