Silk money. Three thousand different banknotes per country

Today, in many countries, scientists are working to increase the durability of paper money, as a result of which plastic money is also appearing. As history shows, a similar problem was solved in the twenties of the last century. As a result, silk money appeared. However, the reason for using silk as a banknote base was not so much the durability of this material as the shortage of paper in a particular territory.
In April 1920, the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic (KhNSR) was proclaimed in the Khiva Khanate. In the same year, the government of the republic was forced to issue local banknotes, which began to be issued on silk and only partially on paper.
The decision to issue money on silk material, the so-called “silk”, was made for several reasons. Firstly, the handicraft silk industry was well developed on the territory of the republic. Secondly, for the mass issue of money there were no necessary supplies of paper, even of poor quality. Thirdly, the prospect of increasing the service life of money was taken into account - due to the greater durability of silk material compared to paper.

The issue of the republic's money, according to catalog data, consisted of banknotes in denominations of 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2000 and 5000 rubles, issued in two series in 1338 and 1339 AH. From a comparison of Hijri dates with the corresponding intervals of the Gregorian calendar (thus, 1338 corresponds to the interval from September 26, 1919 to September 14, 1920), it can be established that banknotes of the first series were put into circulation in 1920 in the period between April (when the republic was proclaimed ) and mid-September. The signs of the second series (the year 1339 corresponds to the interval from September 15, 1920 to September 3, 1921) were put into circulation from mid-September 1920 to March 1921.

The technology for making money on silk was surprisingly primitive. On a ribbon 11 centimeters wide, specially woven from natural silk by handicraftsmen, unique designs were applied manually using a stamp, or rather, colored artistic ornaments on the front and back sides of banknotes. The stamps were made from the wood of a tree of the elm (elm) genus growing in Central Asia, which was used in the manufacture of carved artistic products. After applying the ornament on both sides, the strip of silk was cut into equal parts corresponding to the width of the bills being created.
It was one of the most elegant and original money ever issued in the world. Bonist historians note that “silks” worth 1,000 rubles were particularly elegant. It’s hard to disagree with this when considering this banknote. The text part of the thousand-ruble bill was printed on silk in purple, blue and cyan shades. This is a real artistic miniature, surprisingly reminiscent of an oriental carpet.

With the help of researchers from the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg State University, it was possible to decipher with high reliability the contents of all the inscriptions on the front and back sides of the 1000 ruble banknote, written in Turkic.
The denomination of the banknote is written in Arabic numerals.
On the front side of the bill, to the right and left of the vignette with the inscription “One thousand rubles”, oriental ornamented denomination numbers are affixed.
Above the vignette is the inscription: “Paper money of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic.” On the frame there is the year of issue in Hijri - 1338. Overprints are made above the vignette:
- Chairman of the Council of People's Nazirs Haji Palvan Niyaz Yusupov
- Nazir of Finance Mohammed Penah Muhammed Rakhimov
- Cashier
- Muhammad Amin Ishjanov
At the bottom of the frame is the year of manufacture - 1920.
On the reverse side of the note, at the top of the frame, is printed: “This paper money is backed by all the property of the government.”
At the bottom of the frame is the inscription: “The person who counterfeits this paper money is brought before the revolutionary criminal court.” Here the year of manufacture is 1920.
In the center of the reverse side is the coat of arms of the republic. To the left of it is printed: “One thousand rubles”, to the right is the digital denomination.
Silk bonds of Khiva are a great collector's rarity. In Russia, there are only a few hundred Khiva bonds in private and public collections.

The mood now is Sad

About my blog.

I'm a collector and I know for sure that many people

for most collectors and not necessarily collectors,

there are probably some original or unique ones

or cool things that you look at and are surprised:

where does it come from? What is this? how did this happen? can't be!!!--

-- Overall thought-provoking.

items and types of collectibles, i.e. it could be

a unique coin, and a badge, and an order, and some kind of banner,

and a seal, and a stamp, and a stamp, and a book, and a button, etc. and so on.

- after all, there is no number of objects and types of collecting and

There are countless events happening around these objects!!!

Everyone has SOMETHING to say ANYTHING about!

And, in my deep conviction, we need to talk about it.

After all, these objects are silent witnesses to the History of Humanity!

I now noticed the line number on which I stopped.

Line 17!! ! After all, I want to talk about the events taking place

after '17last century! Is this a coincidence? Of course, by accident!

But I could have deliberately brought it to this line - it’s so simple:

subtract or add a few words and everything will change!

Sometimes it turns out that you can add several points so that everything

has changed and most importantly, the whole meaning of what was written has changed!

This is exactly the case I want to talk about in the 1st part of my blog,

blog I want to start and call:"My rarities."

Let's talk about banners HSSR (Khorezm Soviet

Socialist Republic) - a republic that

existed for only less than 4 years from1920-1924

Let me just remind the future reader that there is a special

historical discipline called"vexillology"

and which studies flags and banners.

A distinctive feature of flags and banners is that

the fact that flags are mass-produced products,

and the banner is a single product! So:

1. Banners of the KhSSR (1920-1924)

I purchased this banner 40 years ago while on a business trip in Moscow.

my friend is an old Khorezm collectorRostislav Chernyavsky

(God bless him!) - and upon arrival back to Urgench

showed it to me to brag - well, as it usually happens

among collectors when something not quite comes into their hands

a common thing.

It turns out he exchanged this thing for 20 grandsilk money

HSSR(at that time they gave good money for them - and even now

They give quite good prices - $500 for each piece!)

I still remember this meeting of ours - it ended in a big

quarrel and altercation, and after that we didn’t

talked to each other. The fact is that 10 pieces of silk

out of 20 were mine and he could not dispose of them without me

consent - after all, I gave them so that he would sell and bring me money.

And secondly... Secondly, this was the rub and the reason

our soon-to-be-expanded quarrel. At first everything was fine -

he told me that he could not sell our

silk - time was running out, and then he was offered to exchange

rags for one large rag and he agreed, because he thought

that this big rag, that is, the banner, is original

and unique historical value, and instead of 10 pieces for me

will give 12 silks or any other exchange I wish

(and he had something to offer and what I had my eye on and he knew

about this - he was always lucky with unique things!). I agreed

and we began to wash his arrival and his new acquisition and

At the same time, we began to inspect this very acquisition. Right here

and it happened!!! At the first glance at the inscription I was struck

I saw the first letter and I understood the hidden meaning of the top line

inscriptions on the banner.After all, I am a Khorezmian!

What an interpretation of the famous slogan of communism! What a joke!

It was a real joke! All the jokes are funny!!!

And I said to Chernyavsky: “Rostik, my dear, what did you bring?

Do you know what the Muscovites slipped you?This is anti-Soviet!"

Chernyavsky jumped up: “Where do you see anti-Sovietism? Everywhere

you imagine anti-Sovietism and it’s because it’s deep inside you

Stalin's legacy sits and you sit and tremble all the time."

At this point I jumped up: “Yes, read what is written there

and read carefully, especially the upper arc-shaped line,

you know arabic graphics

- there is a dot, there is no dot, the letter changes, the meaning changes.

“Yes, everything is written fine there,” Chernyavsky replied, “I’ve already

I read it a long time ago the usual standard inscription: "Proletarians

All countries, unite!"This is how it is written on everyone now

flags and banners. What does anti-Soviet have to do with it?”

“Please read out loud what is written there,” I asked

persistently - and read letter by letter."

And Chernyavsky began muttering irritably:

"B-i-r-l-a-sh-n-g-i-z b-u-t-u-n d-u-n-y-a m-e-h-n-a-t- k-a-sh-l-a-r-i."

"Look carefully at the first letter, open your eyes wider,

- I’m already getting annoyed - there are three dots down there,

and this is no longer the letter “B”, as you just read, but the letter “P” And

together it worksnot "Birlashingiz", but "Pirlashingiz" And

here, a dog and a very large dog are buried, and then

Rostik, my dear, where do you see the word “proletarians”?

The word "mehnatkashlar" has only one meaning: "workers",

so if we translate the phrase together,

it will work, excuse me:Workers of the whole world, take your shit!!!

Chernyavsky rolled his eyes at me: That there can’t be a mistake?

“Rostik, you know, under the letter “B” there should be only one

period, and here they even put not one, not two, but three - and with this

they really want to emphasize that this is the letter “p”,

and not some other, and this is a conscious action, you know???

/In Arabic graphics you can under-delivery dots, this happens

Quite often on old coins, on old documents,

Manuscripts, etc. Because of this, academicians-orientalists constantly

They argue with each other, one says it should be read this way, the other

This is how the letter is concretized, i.e. read like this

No other way./

Chernyavsky sat and looked gloomily at the empty bottles:

"Please bring a couple more pieces, otherwise I'm getting a headache.

It doesn’t cook, but before that I’ll look at the dictionaries and think about it.”

“Okay,” I said, “but please don’t do anything stupid, otherwise

I know you, a Bolshevik, and your Bolshevik habits, don’t tear

the banner, the banner is not to blame, God saved it for some reason

so much time, and then you know, the east is a delicate matter,

maybe there really is another meaning; Look

the word "pirlashingiz" in the dictionary, with the word "proletarians" -

everything is clear - there was no such concept in the Uzbek language at that time

existed. So I ask you not to tear the banner,

Now I’ll quickly go to the store watchman.”

"Stop croaking, I haven't gotten to that point yet

condition, everything will be fine, go,” said Chernyavsky and

started rummaging through the bookcase. I quickly went to the store and

came back. I see Chernyavsky looking so happy,

his eyes are shining, and in front of him is an open book...

"Come on, pour it, it's worth a drink, I found two more here

The meaning of the word "pirlashingiz" is the first, it is

"become rich" and the second is "become holy". Second,

Of course, we discard in the light of the first the inscription on the banner

means: "Workers of the whole world, get rich!" - and, victoriously

looks at me. What to do? East is a delicate matter. All in all

They sat down and drank - they poured it and drank again. Then I say:

“Rostik, please don’t be offended and now look at the bottom

part of the inscription." Chernyavsky, sensing a trick on my part,

irritably glanced at the banner and said: “What else are you doing there?

found? Read and speak for yourself."

“It is written here - yashasun danglik wa adolat - that is -

long live equality and justice. You see,

the word "danglik" (equality) is purely Khorezmian

dialect of the Uzbek language - in literary it is transmitted

in the form of "tenglik", so we must consider the entire text

precisely in the Khorezmian vein, and since the unifying

literary Uzbek language appeared after 1924 then

is after the emergence of the newly formed UzSSR, then again everything

what is written on this banner we must consider precisely

through the prism of the Khorezmian language, and in the Khorezmian language

the word "pirlashingiz" was never used to mean

“get rich”, and it’s ridiculous and naive to wish all the poor

enrich yourself, unless, of course, this is done with great irony

and sarcasm, but I repeat again, excuse me,

"Pirlash" in Khorezmian means only one thing, sorry,

“to crap”, there is another meaning - “feast-feast” - this is to proceed

the baby's stomach (diarrhea), but it's the same thing;

maybe this is exactly what was meant, because communism at that time

time was really in infancy. So

in any case, Rostik, you can’t sell this thing,

neither exchange nor brag to anyone - otherwise

You will follow your father’s path to Mother Siberia to cut down the forest.”

It was in vain, of course, to say about his father’s path, since after mine

tirade Chernyavsky jumped up, took the banner, threw it on the floor

and let's trample him and the whole crimson one began to shout:

“You white bone! What does my father have to do with it?

Khrushchev rehabilitated him! I'll fucking tear this banner down - that's the deal

the hands of the Young Khivans - your relatives. Stalin did the right thing

that he shot them, he should have shot them even more!

And now there are only counters and the same crooks everywhere! And you need to be against the wall

put! You walk around here and you find extra dots!”

Chernyavsky shouted something else and tried to tear the banner, but I

stopped him, appealing to his collector's

feelings and that he is not a fascist after all so that

destroy cultural heritage and immediately added that I bought

not 2 pieces, but just in case 4 pieces and put more on the table

2 bottles of port no. 24 - it was the best wine of that time!

Then Chernyavsky threw the banner

at my feet and said that he was giving it to me and that I

I wouldn’t have demanded my fucking silks from him either, so what?

he is even with me and so that I go somewhere far away and to

His eyes couldn't have been bigger or better. So we are with him

They quarreled and didn’t see each other for a whole year after that.

But then, thinking what the hell is not joking, maybe really

there was a mistake, I already purposefully became

look for the same inscription on coins, on paper money,

on stamps, in general, on everything where it can be.

And finally, after 7 years I found it! And again on the banner!

Only another nazorat (ministry) - nazorat

Supreme Court of the Republic! And the first was a banner

Nazarat of Justice! What a mockery!

After some time, Chernyavsky died - heart

the honest communist could not withstand the perestroika changes.

Before that, he called me to his place and we, as usual, drank, and

They also drank to glasnost, and then he said in a sad voice,

that the proletariat really crap, and that I am now

I can easily sell my banners, nothing and no one

afraid. Chernyavsky was an honest communist, but with the "right

deviation", and therefore he was not in the official ranks of the party

and there were no big nomenklatura communists at his grave

those. those whom he called THIEVES IN LAW because they

being in power and hiding behind immunity

millions of deputies were stolen, not those who were caught

and sat in prisons and due to their character traits

and mental acuity were nicknamed THIEVES IN LAW in contrast to

official THIEVES, whom the Law PROTECTED!!!

There were only three drunks at his grave - one of them was called

“Mayakovsky”, because when he drank, he always read Mayakovsky;

the other was called "Yesenin", because when he drinks, he always

I only read Yesenin, and the third was called “Dollar”

- We won’t go into detail about the third one.

The first one read about the “sickle-faced and hammer-handed one,” as if

I felt that this one was the most “sickle-faced and hammer-handed”

soon it will also disappear forever;

the second one read about some lonely birch tree, or silver

covered, perhaps, with gold, although he had never seen

this very birch tree, but I saw only the Karakum sands, saxaul

and lizards around; and the third drunk is also something

I think I read a khutbah about the dollar and global capitalism...

P.S. I insert:

Box 1-

photos of both banners and separate fragments with three dots.

Box 2-

Silk money of Khorezm

Box 3-

Paper money of Khorezm

Box 4-

Khorezmian "proletarian"!!!----

video clip with my grandson, which clearly explains

What does it mean to do “pr-pr” in Khorezmian!

Box 5-

Yu. Aleshkovsky's song "Comrade Stalin" performed by

V. Vysotsky - since Chernyavsky also loved to listen to this song

and the “drunks” I mentioned - “Mayakovsky” and “Yesenin” - since

they, too, soon departed to another world -God bless them all!

The issue of the republic's money, according to catalog data, consisted of banknotes in denominations of 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2000 and 5000 rubles, issued in two series in 1338 and 1339 AH. From a comparison of Hijri dates with the corresponding intervals of the Gregorian calendar (thus, 1338 corresponds to the interval from September 26, 1919 to September 14, 1920), it can be established that banknotes of the first series were put into circulation in 1920 in the period between April (when the republic was proclaimed ) and mid-September. The signs of the second series (1339 corresponds to the interval from September 15, 1920 to September 3, 1921) were put into circulation from mid-September 1920 to March 1921.

The technology for making money on silk was surprisingly primitive. On a ribbon 11 centimeters wide, specially woven from natural silk by handicraftsmen, original designs were applied manually using a stamp, or rather, colored artistic ornaments on the front and back sides of banknotes. The stamps were made from the wood of a tree of the elm (elm) genus growing in Central Asia, which was used in the manufacture of carved artistic products. After applying the ornament on both sides, the strip of silk was cut into equal parts corresponding to the width of the bills being created.
It was one of the most elegant and original money ever issued in the world. Bonist historians note that “silks” worth 1,000 rubles were particularly elegant. It’s hard to disagree with this when considering this banknote. The text part of the thousand-ruble bill was printed on silk in purple, blue and cyan shades. This is a real artistic miniature, surprisingly reminiscent of an oriental carpet.

With the help of researchers from the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg State University, it was possible to decipher with high reliability the contents of all the inscriptions on the front and back sides of the 1000 ruble banknote, written in Turkic.
The denomination of the banknote is written in Arabic numerals.
On the front side of the bill, to the right and left of the vignette with the inscription “One thousand rubles”, oriental ornamented denomination numbers are affixed.
Above the vignette is the inscription: “Paper money of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic.” On the frame there is the year of issue in Hijri - 1338. Overprints are made above the vignette:
- Chairman of the Council of People's Nazirs Haji Palvan Niyaz Yusupov
- Nazir of Finance Mohammed Penah Muhammed Rakhimov
- Cashier
- Muhammad Amin Ishjanov
At the bottom of the frame is the year of manufacture - 1920.
On the reverse side of the note, at the top of the frame, is printed: “This paper money is backed by all the property of the government.”
At the bottom of the frame is the inscription: “The person who counterfeits this paper money is brought before the revolutionary criminal court.” Here the year of manufacture is 1920.
In the center of the reverse side is the coat of arms of the republic. To the left of it is printed: “One thousand rubles”, to the right is the digital denomination.
Silk bonds of Khiva are a great collector's rarity. In Russia, there are only a few hundred Khiva bonds in private and public collections.

Silk banknotes of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic in denominations of 5000, 1000 and 500 rubles

The republic that issued them existed for less than half a decade, and the banknotes it issued were not in use for long. However, when the time came to exchange unusual money, few people agreed to part with them. There were many of them, but only a few copies have reached modern collectors, because, even having ceased to be a means of payment, these bright multi-colored bills served people until the very end. Can you guess what we're talking about?

When the Khan of Khorezm abdicated the throne, the First Khorezm Kurultai (i.e., “assembly”) was declared and instead of the Khiva Khanate in 1920, the Khorezm People’s Soviet Republic (KhNSR, Uzbek: Xorazm Xalq Sho "ro Jumhuriyati) appeared on the maps. According to the conclusion By the young republic with the RSFSR, the agreement recognized the KhNSR as a completely independent and independent state - which means it needed its own currency, especially since with the abolition of the Khanate of Khiva, its money - copper, silver and paper tangas - ceased to be minted and printed. Instead, ruble banknotes appeared. and coins. The first were coins of 20 rubles and banknotes of 250 and 750, then the range and denomination of issues increased - and within a year it came to the point that the largest banknote was 25,000 rubles.

Coins of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic in denominations of 500, 100, 25 and 20 rubles

The first revolutionary years were rich in bonistic delights - if necessary, money was proclaimed to be any attractive thing that was difficult to counterfeit on the territory of a particular state entity - even “bills” from wine labels with corresponding overprints are known. On the one hand, the Khorezm nazirs (ministers) did not have ready-made labels, not even smart printing equipment and high-quality paper suitable for making banknotes. On the other hand, it was not for nothing that the Khiva Khanate was located in those regions where the Great Silk Road ran in ancient times: there was plenty of high-quality silk here. In addition, local craftsmen were excellent at applying a variety of color designs to fabric with persistent plant (madder, ink nut, compositions from the leaves of various local trees and shrubs) and animal (cochineal) paints. To fix the color and further compact the fabric, resin from fruit trees, most often apricot, was used. Time-tested dye recipes, developed weaving production and the sanctification of the idea by venerable traditions (money made from fabric was in circulation in medieval China) prompted the idea of issuing their own banknotes on fabric by the last rulers of the Khiva Khanate. The first issue of silk money of the Khiva Khanate, dated 1337 AH (7.10.1918-25.09.1919) was inscribed in Arabic script: “Paper money by the highest decree of the government of Khorezm”, decorated with images of a crescent and a star, a warning about punishment for counterfeiting according to the laws of the state and the round seals of the ministers of finance and internal affairs, the chief manager and cashier of the state bank, as well as the manager of the state treasury. Also, banknotes were numbered and provided with the writing of the denomination, both in Uzbek and in Russian (in the second case, often with errors in spelling and lettering). There were three issues in total, totaling 3 million rubles (five tangas were equal to one Russian ruble), so today this money is rare.

Silk banknotes of the Khiva Khanate in denominations of 250, 200 and 100 rubles

Variants of the coat of arms of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic

I. Bogoslovskaya and B. Golender in their essay “Khorezm silk money” describe the process of their production as follows:

“On the simplest machine, a ribbon 11 cm wide was woven from natural local silk, which was cut into rectangular pieces 15 cm long. Inaccurate transverse cutting of the silk ribbon gave characteristic “terry” on the vertical sides of the banknotes, which, by the way, is a sign of authenticity.

Inscriptions and images were applied to silk manually using special cliche stamps (kalybs). If paper banknotes in Khiva were printed using bronze kalybs, then the stamps for silk were most likely made of wood, in accordance with the local tradition of printing on fabrics. This is evidenced by the large number of varieties of silk banknotes, which can only happen if the printing cliché wears out quickly. The famous Tashkent collector of the older generation M.S. Kozhukhin, for example, believed that the kalybs for Khiva’s silk banknotes were made from elm wood. They were separate for each color, and images were created using them sequentially, in several operations. Externally, the kalybs looked like wooden cubes with indentations for the master’s fingers on two opposite non-working surfaces. With his thumb and ring finger, the master played the kalyb, like a pianist would play a chord on a piano, and, dipping it in paint, manually applied the corresponding design or inscription on a silk blank - canvas.”

The money of the KhNSR, which produced its own variations on the theme of Khiva “silks” according to exactly the same “recipes”, has survived to this day in large quantities - unlike the Khanate of Khiva, the people’s republic was not shy about making sweeping gestures and issued 500 million rubles in the first year banknotes Just like “silks,” the money of the Khorezm Republic was very bright. Elegant inscriptions in Uzbek in Arabic font reported that “paper money” was issued by the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic, was provided by all the available property of the state, and counterfeiting of banknotes was prosecuted under the law of the revolution. Due to the fact that these banknotes were made from handmade silk and hand-printed with vegetable inks, there is obviously a noticeable discrepancy in materials and colors on different banknotes of the same denomination and batch. If we add that not only the design of the banknotes, but also the coat of arms and flag of the young republic at the time of issue of this money did not yet have a canonical, officially approved and recorded form, it will not surprise anyone that Khorezm silk money is amazingly diverse: each denomination is decorated in its own way painted coat of arms. The inscriptions and the presence or absence of polygonal or rectangular frames around the nazir signatures vary. In the version “Nazir of Finance Muhammad Rakhimov (Muhammadshah Mukhammadrakhimov). Chairman of the Council of People's Nazirs Khodzhiniyaz Yusupov. Treasurer Muhammad Amin (Ishchzhanov)” signatures are found on banknotes in denominations of 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000 rubles, dated 1338 and 1339. Hijras. In the version “Temporary Treasurer Muhammad Amin Ishchzhanov. Chairman of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee Dzhabbarbergan Kuchkarov. Temporary Nazir of Finance Mukhim Nurullayev” signatures are recorded only on denominations of 1000, 2000 and 5000 rubles dated in European style, 1921.

In 1938, banknote researcher V. M. Sokolov noted: “There are so many differences in the silk ting signs of Khiva... that it is impossible to catalog them. With a relatively small amount of surviving ting silk, almost every sign has its own characteristics.”

The experience of centuries shows that such money is not only more difficult to counterfeit than primitive paper money without the appropriate degrees of security, but it is also much stronger than any printed banknote. “Pieces of cloth with the seal of the Uyghur khan (kamdu), which were in circulation as money, were repaired, washed, and sealed again once every seven years,” reported in his dictionary-reference book “Divan Lughat at-Turk” (11th century .) Mahmoud al-Kashgari. Those. even after seven years of being handed over, washed, darned and re-painted, the pieces of fabric remained strong and intact enough to continue to serve as a means of payment! The durability and colorfulness of silk money served collectors, on the one hand, in good stead - the fabric banknotes that have survived to this day are impeccably preserved and have hardly faded. On the other hand, it is precisely these qualities of scraps of dense silk that have deprived modern bonists of an innumerable number of potential excellent exhibits!

After the transformation of the KhNSR first into the KhSSR (Khorezm Soviet Socialist Republic), and then its complete abolition (the KhSSR in parts became part of the newly formed Uzbek SSR, Turkmen SSR and Karakalpak Autonomous Okrug), the money of the now defunct state also ceased to exist: the exchange of Khorezm rubles for Soviet at the rate of 1:1 was completed by the fall of 1923. However, practical local residents did not hand over the old, denominated money “rags” that looked like miniature oriental rugs, preferring to use them for their household needs. High-quality thick silk produced chic quilted robes, bedspreads, blankets and skullcaps made using the patchwork technique. Those traveling through Central Asia in Soviet times saw similar items of clothing and household items among the population not only in the 40s, but also in the 60s of the 20th century - “money” silk turned out to be incredibly durable and was literally passed on from generation to generation. True, one could not even dream of turning colorful handicrafts back into collectible banknotes - the craftswomen who created clothes and carpets from them did not care about the safety of the banknotes; the banknotes were trimmed, overcast and adjusted to each other in accordance with the seamstress's design. Of course, in their new form they could only be of interest to ethnographers and specialists in the history of costume, and the bonists could only bite their elbows.

All the more valuable for enthusiastic collectors and specialists in banknotes of the first years of Soviet power are those silk banknotes that have survived to this day in a minimally damaged and faded form, retaining their original size and shape. Today they cost much more than at the time of their creation, and certainly no one would dare to sacrilegiously make a rug or bedspread out of them!

Bibliography

Bogoslovskaya I., Golender B. Khorezm silk money, http://www.sanat.orexca.com/rus/archive/4-09/bogoslovskaya_golender.shtml

Zhukov A. A. Malyshev V. P. Encyclopedia. Monetary issues of Central Asia. Turkestan region (1918-1923). St. Petersburg, 2005

Sokolov V. M. Complete catalog of bonds issued on the territory of the USSR during the period from 1914 to 1925. VOK, Rostov-on-Don, 1938.

History of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic. Collection of documents. Tashkent, 1976.

Shafer E. Golden peaches of Samarkand. M., 1981.

In April 1920, the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic (KhNSR) was proclaimed in the Khiva Khanate. In the same year, the government of the republic was forced to issue local banknotes, which began to be issued on silk and only partially on paper.

The decision to issue money on silk material, the so-called “silk”, was made for several reasons. Firstly, the handicraft silk industry was well developed on the territory of the republic. Secondly, for the mass issue of money there were no necessary supplies of paper, even of poor quality. Thirdly, the prospect of increasing the service life of money was taken into account - due to the greater durability of silk material compared to paper.

The issue of the republic's money, according to catalog data, consisted of banknotes in denominations of 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2000 and 5000 rubles, issued in two series in 1338 and 1339 AH. From a comparison of Hijri dates with the corresponding intervals of the Gregorian calendar (thus, 1338 corresponds to the interval from September 26, 1919 to September 14, 1920), it can be established that banknotes of the first series were put into circulation in 1920 in the period between April (when the republic was proclaimed ) and mid-September. The signs of the second series (1339 corresponds to the interval from September 15, 1920 to September 3, 1921) were put into circulation from mid-September 1920 to March 1921.

It was one of the most elegant and original money ever issued in the world. Bonist historians note that “silks” worth 1,000 rubles were particularly elegant. It’s hard to disagree with this when considering this banknote. The text part of the thousand-ruble bill was printed on silk in purple, blue and cyan shades. This is a real artistic miniature, surprisingly reminiscent of an oriental carpet.

With the help of researchers from the Oriental Faculty of St. Petersburg State University, it was possible to decipher with high reliability the contents of all the inscriptions on the front and back sides of the 1000 ruble banknote, written in Turkic.

The denomination of the banknote is written in Arabic numerals.

On the front side of the bill, to the right and left of the vignette with the inscription “One thousand rubles”, oriental ornamented denomination numbers are affixed.

Above the vignette is the inscription: “Paper money of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic.” On the frame there is the year of issue in Hijri - 1338. Overprints are made above the vignette:
- Chairman of the Council of People's Nazirs Haji Palvan Niyaz Yusupov
- Nazir of Finance Mohammed Penah Muhammed Rakhimov
- Cashier
- Muhammad Amin Ishjanov

At the bottom of the frame is the year of manufacture - 1920.

On the reverse side of the note, at the top of the frame, is printed: “This paper money is backed by all the property of the government.”

At the bottom of the frame is the inscription: “The person who counterfeits this paper money is brought before the revolutionary criminal court.” Here the year of manufacture is 1920.

In the center of the reverse side is the coat of arms of the republic. To the left of it is printed: “One thousand rubles”, to the right is the digital denomination.

Silk bonds of Khiva are a great collector's rarity. In Russia, there are only a few hundred Khiva bonds in private and public collections.

Rostislav Nikolaev