Æ - Rusudan I

Rusudan I ruled Georgia during one of its most catastrophic periods — the Mongol invasions that began in earnest after 1220 shattered the kingdom her brother Giorgi IV had inherited at its zenith. This copper issue dates to the early years of her reign, when she was already presiding over a court in near-permanent flight, eventually abandoning Tbilisi to the Mongols in 1226. The city fell and was largely destroyed the year this coin was struck.