Money in Nos

[Vanchu, Anthony J. (JSC-AH)[TTI]]

Thanks to all who answered!

I've enough information for my immediate purposes from these posts alone
but, like Kris, if anyone else has further information, I'd also be
interested in finding out more.

Thanks again,
Tony

Dr. Anthony J. Vanchu
Director, JSC Language Education Center
TechTrans International, Inc.
NASA Johnson Space Center
Houston, TX
anthony.j.vanchu at nasa.gov
Phone:  (281) 483-0644
Fax:  (281) 483-4050




-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Kristi Groberg
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 11:47 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Money in Nos

At 10:49 29.08.2007, you wrote:
>Can anyone help provide me with a rough idea of the values of the 
>"krasnaia assignatsia" and "siniaia assignatsia" mentioned in Gogol's 
>"Nos"?
>
>Numerical values would be fine, but more importantly, were these 
>paltry, medium, or significant sums of money in their day?

Hi, Tony:

Here's what I know about assignats:  They were a type of Russian paper
money printed before 1840.  After that it was very difficult to convert
them to the Gold Standard (they could not be easured against the Pound
Sterling either).  So wealthy people kept them in their safes and bank
safety-deposit boxes after 1840 and used them almost as we would a
savings bond or used them for donation funds just to get rid of them.
It's my understanding that aristocrats probably used them as a way to
"launder" money.  One could also donate them to, say, an Imperial
building project and then claim to have donated a sum that was no longer
viable.

I'd like to know more, so anyone else who answers, please post to the
list.

Kris Groberg

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