The Gold Chervonets
THE PEOPLE AND MOUNTAINS OF KHAKASSIA
The 300th anniversary of the life together was commemorated with three coins
On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Khakassia’s voluntary becoming a part of Russia three commemorative coins were minted — two of gold and one of silver. Among these coins put into circulation by the Bank of Russia on July 31, 2007, two are of 1 kilogram: the 100-ruble silver and 10000-ruble gold coins. All the three coins were produced at the Moscow Mint — Branch of Goznak.
The ancient and rich history of Khakassia would be enough for a whole dozen of commemorative coins. The first state within the territory of Southern Siberia appeared in the 4th — 3rd centuries B. C. The ancient Chinese chronicles called its population the people of “dinlin”, and the state — “dinlin-go”. About 201 B. C. the state of Dinlin was massacred by armies of the Huns. The tribe of Kyrgyzes moved to the Minusinsk hollow. The Chinese described the situation as follows: “Their (Kyrgyz) tribes mingled with the Dinlins”. The Kyrgyzes became the military aristocratic elite of the new ethnopolitical community. In the difficult and cruel war with the aggressive neighbors (the Turkic and Uighur Kaganates) the Kyrgyz state upheld independence until the 13th century A. D.
The 13th century was the critical epoch in the independent development of Sayano-Altai. The Great Mongolian Ulus with Genghis Khan and his descendants in the lead crushed the independence and singularity of the culture of the Yenisei Kyrgyzes. The population suffered physical extermination and forced deportation by Yuan China.
Until the 17th century there is very little information about Khakassia. In the 17th century the Russian settler in Siberia saw Khakassia split into four principalities. The first contacts between the Kyrgyzes and the Russians started with the erection in 1604 of the Tomsk prison on the land of the Eushtin Tatars — tributaries to the Kyrgyz Beks. It was followed with a long and painful process of Khakassia entering the jurisdiction of the Russian State, which took more than a hundred years.
August 20, 1727 may be considered the date of the official introduction of Khakassia into Russia, when Russia and China concluded the boundary treatise. Russia received all the lands to the north of the Sayans, the Chinese Empire got all the lands to the south.
The actual assignment of the territory of Khakassia happened later. In 1758 the Chinese army invaded Altai and defeated Dzungaria. There appeared a threat of trespass of the Russian official border. The Tsar Government immediately located Cossack garrisons in this border sector. The actual assignment of Khakassia to Russia happened when the Cossacks started to bear the frontier guard duty.
During the work on the coins their author — Victor Erokhin, Head Artist of the Moscow Mint — gathered a lot of material. Victor studied the history of the region not only by literature and illustrations. He went to Khakassia, studied the historical monuments, visited museums, talked to the specialists. According to his words, there were a few sketches prepared, and some of them were very interesting — both from the graphical and compositional points of view. But only three coins were to be minted, and many ideas were not incarnated in metal.
According to the already established tradition (this year the Bank of Russia already issued similar coins on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of Bashkiria’s becoming a part of Russia) the relief image of the coat of arms of the Republic of Khakassia is depicted on the gold coin with the face-value of 50 rubles. During its existence since 1932 the coat of arms of Khakassia has changed more than once. The present coat of arms was approved on November 13, 2002 by the Supreme Council of the Republic of Khakassia. According to the official description, “in the silver field is a red Amazon shield with the silver walking winged panther on guard, finely banded and decorated with gold. Above the shield is the solar sign — the symbol of the Universe. The shield is surrounded with a garland of two birch branches with green leaves. Below the garland, between the branches there is a green band with the word “Khakassia”. By the Law of the Republic of Khakassia of December 20, 2006 changes were applied to the coat of arms: the inscription “Khakassia” was replaced with the image of the Khakassian national ornament in gold.
The coin with the face-value of 50 rubles was minted of pure gold in “proof” quality. Its diameter is 22.6 mm; the weight of the precious metal in purity is 7.78 g. It was minted in the number of 1.5 thousand pieces.
The citizens of Khakassia in their everyday life against the background of stone columns, mountains and an eagle bangling above are depicted on the 1‑kilogram 100‑ruble silver coin (sterling silver, its diameter is 100 mm). The coin is minted in the number of 500 pieces in “proof-like” quality.
On the reverse of the 1‑kilogram gold coin with the face value of 10 000 rubles (pure gold, the diameter is 100 mm) there is an image of a hydroelectric dam against the mountains on the background. Various photos of the famous Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station were used for the sketch of this coin. It is minted in 100 pieces in “proof-like” quality.
On both the 1‑kilogram coins there are elements of the decorative ornament. It is as if the image is observed through the window of time and national culture. This tradition started two years ago and first appeared on the coins dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of Kazan. But the ornament is different every time, it corresponds to the national tradition of the region, to which the coins are dedicated.
Elena Kareva
