Novye Issledovaniâ Tuvy (Jun 2019)
Money of the People’s Republic of Tuva in the collections of the Aldan-Maadyr National Museum of Tuva
Abstract
The Aldan Maadyr National Museum has more than 1,000 coins and banknotes issued by various states and governments of the early 20th century. This article describes the museum’s holding of monetary units issued by the People’s Republic of Tuva. As shown in the museum accessory books, banknotes/coins and securities came mostly as donations by local residents. Our study of several such collections preserved at the museum allowed us to trace the history of monetary reforms in the PRT. For instance, the 1954 collection sheds light on the history of Tuva’s currency, the aksha, issued in 1935 and 1940 and the features of both respective issues. In 1955, the museum exhibited the 3, 5, 10 and 15-kopeck PRT coins minted in 1934 and remaining in circulation prior to the accession of the PRT into the USSR. In 1956, the museum acquired Salchak Toka’s personal collection. Its owner was the leader of the republic’s Communist party from 1932 to 1973. His collection included not only the Tuvan aksha, but also the bonds – banknotes issued in 1925, 1926, and 1928 bearing the PRT stamp. The latter are an evidence of the transition phase in Tuva’s monetary reform. In 1959, the museum was presented with a collection of Czarist Russia bank-bills of 1898 (1 ruble), 1905 (3 rubles), and 1909 (5 and 10 rubles). They were used at one of the first stages of monetary reform implemented by Ministry of Finance of the PRT in 1923. The collection of monetary units of National Museum of Tuva is a highly valuable source for studying the republic’s economic development. The surviving samples of monetary units issued in 1935 and 1940, as well as the stamped bills which had been in circulation in earlier periods, allow us to obtain reliable details that may provide insight into characteristic aspects of the rise of the financial system of PRT, political leaders who implemented economic reforms, and the involvement of the USSR in social and economic development of Tuva in the early twentieth century.
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