Catalog
Denga - Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy
| Issuer | Grand Principality of Moscow |
|---|---|
| Year | 1382 |
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| Value | 1 Denga (0.005) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Cyrillic |
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| Reverse description | Arabic inscription in multiple lines occupying the central field, characteristic of the Tatar-influenced legends found on early Muscovite denga coinage of the late 14th century, reflecting the political relationship between the Grand Principality of Moscow and the Golden Horde. The text is set within a decorative border of floral or geometric devices. The script is rendered in a stylized Naskh-influenced hand, typical of imitative Tatar legends on Russian coins of this period. The flan is irregular, with the design unevenly distributed across the surface. |
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| Additional information |
Dmitry Donskoy's coinage followed almost directly from his victory over Mamai at Kulikovo in 1380 — the first significant Russian defeat of Mongol forces in open battle. The timing is not coincidental. Moscow's first indigenous silver coinage emerged as an assertion of political confidence, minted in the immediate aftermath of that campaign while the political consequences were still unresolved. Tokhtamysh sacked Moscow just two years after Kulikovo, yet the coins continued.
Early Muscovite denga regularly borrowed Tatar tamgha designs and Arabic-script elements on the reverse, a pragmatic acknowledgment of continued Horde authority even as Moscow pressed its own dynastic identity onto the obverse.