Postcard from Bishkek

One of the small differences about life in Kyrgyzstan when I first came here some seventeen years ago, compared to that which I was used to back in the UK, was the fact that Kyrgyzstan didn’t have a coins.  It was all banknotes, even for the smallest denominations.

When I was a child, virtually all the money that I handled was coins … very rarely did I ever see, yet alone handle a bank note.  I grew up to the sound of coins clinking and clanking … and wearing a hole in my trouser pockets.

There were a range of coins: “copper” (the farthing, ha’penny, penny, and threepenny bits), and “silver”, (sixpenny bit,  the shilling, florin and half crown).  Just occasionally you would encounter a “silver threepenny bit” or a “crown” and you would hear, but rarely ever see, about a guinea.  Over the years some were phased out, and, with the introduction of decimalization, the number of different coins was reduced and rationalized: 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p – with a new 20p coin being introduced later on as were the pound and two pound coins.

The threepenny piece was the “odd man out”, in that it alone was not circular … and also because it broke the pattern that as the value of coins increased, so did their size … well, almost.  Amongst the copper coins the ha’penny was bigger than the farthing and the penny was bigger than the ha’penny … the threepenny bit was smaller.  Amongst the silver coins, the smallest was the sixpence, followed by the shilling, the florin and half crown.  The catch was that the penny and half crown were more or less the same size, although the penny was thinner.  The irony was that the silver coin was worth thirty times more than the copper one.

Here, however, there were no coins in circulation.

In 2008 coins with face vales of  10 and 50 tiyin, 1, 3 and 5 som, were introduced into circulation.  Special coins made of brass with a face value of 1 tiyin were also introduced at the same time as collectible items.  In 2009 a new circulation 10 som coin was introduced.

 

Special commemorative coins were also issued as limited issue collectable items.  Technically, they had the status of legal tender – but are worth considerably more than their face value.  As a limited issue, they are issued with a numbered certificate and are usually sold in spacial cases, or encased in acrylic, to help preserve their “quality” as “Proof” or “Brilliant, uncirculated”.

Numismatics – coin collecting – was a popular hobby in the former Soviet Union.  Apparently, at the collapse of the Soviet Union the All Union Numismatic Society had some 450 active members n Bishkek.  Since then, however, interest in collecting coins has declined – maybe because of the greater possibilities to undertake foreign travel detracting from the “exotic” nature of the activity – and it is now thought that there are now somewhere between 50 and 70 collectors in the city.

There are some who have general collections, others who specialize; for example collecting modern coins, coins of  the Russian Empire, or from a particular Historical period and  some who concentrate on collecting Kyrgyz coins.

Amongst the commemorative coins that have already been issued:

• the millennium of the national epic “Manas” – 1995
• • Gold -100 som
  • Silver -10 som
• the 3rd millennium of the city of Osh – 2000 – Gold 100 som
• the 10th anniversary of the independence of the Kyrgyz Republic – 2001 – Silver – 10 som
• International Year of Mountains
• • Marco Polo Sheep  - 2002 – Silver – 10 som
  • Edelweiss – 2002 – Silver – 10 som
• the 10 years of the national currency – 2003 – Silver with gold inlay – 10 som
• the “Genesis of Kyrgyz statehood” – 2003 – Silver with gold inlay – 10 som
• the 60th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War – 2005 – Silver 10 som
• the Shanghai Cooperation Organization – 2007 – Silver 10 som
• “Kyrgyzstan on the Great Silk Road“
• • Burana Tower – 2008  - Silver with gold inlay – 10 som
  • Burana Tower – 2008  - Copper Nickel - 1 som
  • Tash Rabat - 2008 – Silver with gold inlay – 10 som
  • Tash Rabat - 2008 – Copper Nickel – 1 som
  • Uzgen – 2008  - Silver with gold inlay – 10 som
  • Uzgen – 2008 – Copper Nickel – 1 som
• Capitals of the Eurasian Economic Community
• • Bishkek – 2008 – Silver – 10 som

• The works of Chingiz Aitmatov
• • Chingiz Aitmatov - 2009 – Silver – 10 som
  • Jamila – 2009 - Silver – 10 som
  • Duishen – 2009 - Silver – 10 som
  • Mother field – 2009 - Silver – 10 som
  • Farewell Gulsary! – 2009 - Silver – 10 som
  • The White Ship – 2009 - Silver – 10 som
• Kyrgyzstan on the Great Silk Road
• • Sulaiman Too - 2009  - Silver with gold inlay – 10 som
  • Sulaiman Too - 2009 – Copper Nickel – 1 som
  • Issyk Kul – 2009  - Silver with gold inlay – 10 som
  • Issyk Kul – 2009 – Copper Nickel – 1 som
•  Fauna in the EurAsEC Countries
• • Golden Eagle – 2009 – Silver – 10 som
• Legends and Tales of Peoples of the EurAsEC Countries
• • Mother Deer – 2009 – Silver – 10 som
• 10 Years of  EurAsEC – 2010 – Silver – 10 som
• Construction of the Yurt – 2010 – Silver – 10 som
• The World of Our Children – 2011 – Silver – 10 som
• The Great Silk Road – 2011 – Silver with gold inlay and colour jewellery emamelling – 10 som
• National Musical Instruments
• • Komuz – Nickel silver – 5 som
• Red Book of Kyrgyzstan
• • Snow Leopard- – 2012 – Silver – 10 som
• Historical Events
• • Sovereign Kyrgyzstan – 2011 – Silver with gold inlay – 10 som
  • Peak Pobeda – 2011 – Silver – 10 som
  • Peak Poveda – 2011 – Copper nickel – 1 som
  • Khan Tengri - 2011 – Copper nickel – 1 som
  • 200th Anniversary of Kurmandjan Datka – 2012 – Gold – 100 som
  • 200th Anniversary of Kurmandjan Datka – 2012 – Silver – 10 som

There are also plans to introduce new commemorative coins over the next few years:

• Historical and Architectural Monuments,
• • Saimaluu Tash – 2013 – Silver – 10 som
  • Saimaluu Tash – 2013 – Copper nickel – 1 som
  • Kumbez of Manas – 2014 – Silver – 10 som
  • Kumbez of  Manas – 2014 – Copper nickel – 1 som
• The Red Book of Kyrgyzstan
• • Goitered Gazelle – 2013 – Silver – 10 som
  • Eagle Owl – Enamled silver – 10 som
  • Bustard – 2015 – Enameled silver – 10 som
  • Grey-Brown Pigeon – 2015  - Enameled silver – 10 som
• National Sports and Folk Games 
• • Kyz Kummai – 2015 – Nickel silver – 5 som

 

Kyrgyzstan doesn’t have it’s own mint so has to place orders for new coins abroad, some from the UK but the latest commemorative issue, (Kurmandjan Datka – based on a photogaph taken by Gustaf Mannerheim who later became Marshall of Finland), was produced by the Mint in Lithuania.   The production process takes about 6-8 months, and stocks are usually sufficient for sales over the next 5-10 years.  Boxed sets of the six coiuns commemorating the works of Chingiz Aitmatov, however, sold out in just over four months, (although single coins are still available).

 

 

Tags: For_the_Record, Kyrgyzstan