Coins of Mongolia

Mongolian money circulation has a long and rich history. The first coins were cast during the Hunn, Turok and Uyghur dynasties. The minting of gold and silver coins called "sukhes" was especially intensified during the reign of Genghis Khan and his successors. It is hard to imagine that back in the 13th century, the Mongol Empire was a fairly financially developed state.

 

Here, in short, are the main dates in the history of monetary circulation of the Mongol Empire:
1227 - paper money comes into circulation, which in those days was a curiosity
1236 - monetary reform was carried out, during which the weight and size of coins were brought to a single standard
1241 - issuance of a coin called "Great Mongolian State Money" and the number "1" 
1253 - issuance of a large number of coins and banknotes
1260 - establishment in Khakhorin (then the capital of the Mongol Empire) of the "Money Transfer Bank," issuance of banknotes of various denominations
1280 - another monetary reform of paper money
1327 - legislative tightening of the procedure for the destruction of old banknotes with the involvement of witnesses from among provincial officials

 

It should be noted that during the existence of the Mongol Empire, more than 100 varieties of coins and banknotes were issued. 

 

Decline in all aspects of life, including the financial sphere, occurred after the collapse of the Mongol Empire and the division of the state into several independent khanates . At the end of the 17th century, the Qing Empire, which was in its heyday, invaded Mongolia and destroyed the once powerful state along with 2/3 of the population. For several centuries, until the beginning of the 20th century, Mongolia, which is part of the Chinese Empire, was stuck in the feudal era and used the calculation of tea, wool, camels, horses, hay, etc. in financial transactions.

 

In 1911, when a revolution took place in China itself, in Mongolia, the local nobility, not without the help of Tsarist Russia, made an attempt to gain independence from China. In general, this attempt was unsuccessful. Having gained imaginary independence in 1915 in the form of autonomy within China, already in 1919 Mongolia lost these rights and again fell under the rule of the Republic of China. In 1921, the capital of Mongolia - Urga (now Ulan Bator), at the request of the then Mongolian monarch Bogdo-gegan VIII, freed the White Guard general Baron Roman Fedorovich von Ungern-Sternberg from the Chinese, and the Chinese did not return to power in Mongolia. In 1924, Mongolia became a people's republic, however, now controlled by the leadership of the USSR.

 

On June 2, 1924, the Mongolian Commercial and Industrial Bank was established. Gradually, the Mongols began to move away from commodity settlement and continued to use the currency of other states. The abundance of Russian, Chinese, Mexican, English money in circulation made it difficult to implement the unified financial policy of the young republic. For a period of time in Mongolia, silver bars in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 50 lan (one lan weighed 37 grams) were even used as money.

 

On February 22, 1925, the government of the Mongolian Republic approved a new national monetary unit - the tugrik (or tegreg), consisting, in turn, of 100 mungu (or mengue). The name of the currency "tugrik - tegreg" according to linguists is a transformed name for the Chinese yuan.

 

By order of the Mongolian government, the first line of coins for the People's Republic of Mongolia was issued at the Leningrad Mint, which included 1, 2, 5 mungu made of copper, 10, 15, 20 mungu made of 500 sterling silver, as well as 50 mungu and 1 tugrik made of 900 sterling silver. In December 1925, new money was issued to the masses in the form of wages to the population. Silver coins were the first to enter circulation, then copper ones.

 

 

The obverse of this and the next issue depicts a complex symbol of the Mongolian people from the 17th century - Soyombo. Under the symbol "Soyombo" the date is in Mongolian numbers "15," indicating the countdown of independence from the Chinese Qing Dynasty, corresponding to 1925 from R.H. On the reverse is the face value, again in Mongolian numbers with a florist ornament. Only silver coins are known. The smallest circulation, and accordingly the highest prices, for 15 mungu and 1 tugrik. Coins of this issue were withdrawn from circulation in 1950.

 

At first, in parallel with the tugrik, the Chinese yuan was used in the calculations at the rate of 1 tugrik=0.88 yuan. By 1926, the tugrik course had changed, and it became equal to the yuan. This became possible thanks to the approval and support of the population of the national currency. In 1927, foreign money in the amount of 6.8 million yuan was confiscated by the state and the tugrik became the only currency of Mongolia. From April 15, 1928, the national currency received gold collateral.

 

The next issue of Mongolian coins happened in 1937. Copper and silver were abandoned, and coins were issued in aluminum-bronze alloy (1, 2, 5 mungu) and copper-nickel alloy (10, 15, 20 mungu). Below is the full line of second issue coins from the personal collection. All coins were minted in the Soviet Union.

 

 

The circulation of coins is not known, on the coins the date is "27," which corresponds to our 1937. It should be noted that the second issue of coins of Mongolia turned out to be the last on which the inscriptions and numbers are made in Mongolian. From 1941 to the present, the Cyrillic alphabet has been used in Mongolia. The 1945 line of coins, like the previous one, was issued in a stripped-down composition, without 50 mungu and 1 tugrik. This issue was also minted in the USSR. The circulation of coins of the 1937 model was banned in 1960, coins of the 1945 model in 1970.