The story of Mikelashvili family
About the Creator
I am a middle school student from Georgia who is very interested in my family’s past. I love listening to my grandmother’s stories about our ancestors, and I believe it is important to protect these old objects and the memories they carry.
The family treasure I am submitting is a silver coin from 1924. It’s quite heavy and thick, made of 90% silver. On one side, you can see a blacksmith hitting an anvil with a big hammer. This coin didn't belong to a collector; it was kept in an old wooden chest by my grandmother. Originally, it belonged to my great-grandfather, who lived in a small village in Georgia during the early 20th century.
This coin was minted exactly 102 years ago. Back in 1924, the economy was very unstable. Because people didn't trust paper money, the government issued these silver coins to show that the currency had real value. It’s also interesting that many of these coins were actually made in Birmingham, England, and then sent to the Soviet Union.
This connects my family's history in Georgia to the wider world 100 years ago.
I never met my great-grandfather, but my grandmother told me a lot about him. She said he was a very hardworking and practical man. He survived very difficult times, like the 1930s and World War II. During those years, life in Georgia was very hard and food was scarce.
"Your great-grandfather called this coin our 'safety net'," my grandmother told me. She remembers a time during a very cold winter when they had almost nothing to eat. He thought about trading this silver for a sack of cornflour, but he decided to keep it as a memory for his children. He wanted us to have something "real" from his era. To my family, this coin isn't just money; it represents my great-grandfather’s strength and how he looked after his family.
Throughout the 20th century, Georgia went through many changes. My grandmother lived through the Soviet times and also the 1990s, when everything was changing again. She told me that while paper money often became worthless, this silver coin always kept its value.
Today, this coin is very special to me. When I hold it, I think about my great-grandfather’s hard work and my grandmother’s stories. It reminds me that no matter how much the world changes, family and our history are the most important things we can hold onto.