St. Petersburg Mint and its history

One of the business cards of St. Petersburgits mint is one of the most famous in the world. Founded in 1724, it eventually became the largest producer of coins - including gold and silver, orders, decorations and other non-ferrous metals. St. Petersburg Mint is among the first industrial enterprises founded in the Northern capital.

Mint on the Neva

Among the historical documents of the Petrine erapreserved the nominal decree of the sovereign, dated December 12, 1724. In it, the highest is commanded in the territory of the newly built Peter and Paul Fortress to arrange the minting of gold coins. This date St. Petersburg Mint considers his birthday. It was then that the Russian coins were adorned for the first time by the abbreviation "SPB", which is so familiar to all collectors of coins nowadays, and became, until 1914, a visiting card of the St. Petersburg coinage.

For the period from the day of its foundation, oncoins of various denominations of gold, platinum and silver were minted. Separate foreign orders were also performed. These include the production of Dutch ducats in 1768-1769 and Turkish piasters in the period from 1808 to 1809. Since 1833, the production of Russian coins was established, which had a double Russian-Polish designation of par value. The issue of such coins continued until 1841.

Recoating old and manufacturing new coins

When in peripheral mints, such asTauric (in Feodosia), Suzunsky (in Siberia) and Tiflis, the production of the next types of coins was established, then their trial series were produced, as a rule, on the banks of the Neva. Here in 1911, trial coins from nickel were minted. The technology of their manufacture was developed directly in the laboratory of the mint.

It is known that from 1762 to 1796 in Russiathe coins were re-struck repeatedly, that is, giving the coins previously coined with a different image with the help of a new stamp. It was caused by economic reasons. To implement the program, the St. Petersburg Mint was chosen as the most suitable for its technical capabilities.

Thanks to a sufficiently high technologicallevel of production, queen-quarters were often manufactured here - stamps with a relief image for domestic mints, as well as for a number of foreign enterprises that signed contracts with the Russian government.

Production of premium signs

In addition to the products listed,For many years the St. Petersburg Mint carried out work on the production of medals and orders. This was a separate and very important area of ​​his activity. Such a production presents a certain complexity, since it requires simultaneously a high technological and artistic level of performance. History has preserved many of the names of outstanding medal artists of past centuries.

Scientific researches in the laboratory of the enterprise

The Mint also has great meritin the development of domestic science and technology. In the middle of the 18th century, scientific works on the division of precious metals began in its walls. The names of famous Russian inventors, such as AK Nartov, IA Schlatter, PG Sobolevsky and BS Yakobi, are closely related to them. Their activities had a great influence on the progress of Russian technology of the XVIII-XIX centuries.

In the period from 1876 to 1942 the main placerelease of all varieties of coins, medals and orders was the St. Petersburg Mint, a sign of which can be seen on most of the products of that time. In his laboratory, unique technologies related to the cooking of enamels were developed, and mass production of orders and medals was introduced in production shops.

Mint during the war years

When the war broke out in 1941, a significantpart of the equipment of the enterprise was evacuated to the rear and placed in Krasnokamsk, in the shops of the paper factory "Goznak". Forty qualified specialists were sent to Leningrad from there to install and set up it.

This is all that the blockade city could help, sincethe bulk of his toilers was at the front or fought in the units of the people's militia. During the war, when the need for medals and orders was very high, the mint of Krasnokamsk was unable to fully satisfy it. In this regard, the government decided to create a mint in Moscow, in the territory of a printing factory.

The oldest enterprise of Goznak

Today, the St. Petersburg Mint, which has been stigmatized on many modern coins and orders, is a member of the Russian association Goznak.

In recent years, significantly expandedthe assortment of the products produced in it, since along with state orders, private ones, coming both from individuals and from various commercial structures, are carried out. The abbreviation SPMD (St. Petersburg Mint) is also well known to all collectors, whose passion is the collecting of coins.