No one in the world had their own money before the Georgians

2025-09-05

The first money, as archaeological material confirms, was probably minted at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries BC in Asia Minor — where the Meskhetian kingdom, or historical Phrygia, existed. In this territory, in the 80s of the 6th century BC, grand cataclysms occurred, when the Phrygian kingdom ceased to exist as a result of the invasions of the Medes and Lydians. It was during this same period that the “Colchian white” was born on the Black Sea coast, on the territory of Georgia.

The “Colchian white” was minted approximately 50 years earlier than the first Greek and Persian coins! The “Colchian white” was in circulation in the 6th century BC in the territory where the Georgian, or Colchian, population lived. This territory included the area from the Crimean Peninsula to modern Sinope, which is now a Turkish port. Traces of the mint of the “Colchian Tetri” have been discovered on the territory of Georgia.

The “Colchian Tetri” is unique among the world’s coins of all time in that it has not gone out of circulation for 26 centuries! It was also in circulation in the 20th century.

Author: Historian, Professor Svimon Maskharashvili