Interesting facts about a penny

Until the 16th century, not a single monetary unit of the world was divided into 100 small coins. The first was our Russian ruble, which, after the reform of Elena Glinskaya in 1535, consisted of 100 kopecks.

There are many versions of the origin of the name of this small Russian coin. For example, Vladimir Dahl believed that the name "kopeck" comes from the word "save". But,
by a more widespread version, the name came from the image on the coin of St. George the Victorious, which strikes the snake with a spear. True, some researchers believe that the coins of the XVI century depicted the Grand Duke, by the way, also with a spear. Accordingly, and according to this version, the penny got its name from the word "spear".

In our time, pennies are not often found in circulation, but since the time of Peter the Great, it has been divided into ½ part (money), ¼ (half) and even 1/8 part (half-half). Even in the days of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1928. coins were issued in face value.

Until 1704, kopecks were made of silver.
Only by decree of Peter the Great in Russia they began to stamp out of copper. At that time, an unskilled worker received in a day from 5 to 8 cents. Is this a lot or a little? For example, a pood of bread (16 kg) at that time cost 10 cents, and a pood of meat - 30.

During the First World War, banknotes in nominal value from 1 to 50 kopecks were issued in Russia.
At this harsh time the metal had to be saved.

In Soviet times, after the monetary reform of 1961, the kopeck also had a certain "weight". On this coin you could buy a box of matches, a glass of soda without syrup or a slice of bread in the dining room.

By the way, in the Soviet Union there was a legend that 1 kopeck in 1961 was made of gold
. Many even tried to sell it at a price many times higher than face value. But, here they were disappointed: this coin was stamped out of copper-zinc alloy, therefore, had no special value.

With Soviet coins, small items could be weighed. The coin worth 1 kopeck weighed exactly 1 gram, 2 kopecks - 2 grams,
3 kopecks - 3 grams and 5 cents - 5 grams. If the store brought a lot of such trifles, the sellers did not bother with a tedious recalculation, but simply threw coins on the scales.

Currently, the issue of coins with denominations of 1 and 5 kopecks is terminated. The last time they were produced in 2014.
This is easy to explain: the cost of such coins is much higher than the nominal value. But, these coins are not withdrawn from circulation and remain a legal tender. In total there are about 7 billion coins worth 1 kopeck at the moment.