Catalog
Denga - Vasily I Dmitriyevich Cyrillic legend / Chimera left
| Issuer | Moscow, Grand principality of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1413-1418 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Cyrillic |
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| Reverse description | A chimera depicted in left profile occupying the central field, rendered with a sinuous body and a tail terminating in a serpent's head. Beneath the creature appears a curved form interpreted as an imitation of a kneeling human figure. The design is executed in the flat, linear style characteristic of early 15th-century Moscow hammered silver coinage, with bold but somewhat crude engraving consistent with workshop production of the period. |
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| Additional information |
Vasily I spent much of his reign navigating tribute obligations to the Golden Horde while simultaneously consolidating Muscovite territory — a political balancing act that shaped even his coinage policy. The chimera type reflects the hybrid visual vocabulary common to early Moscow dengas, borrowing Tatar tamga conventions on one face while asserting Cyrillic legitimacy on the other. This was not aesthetic eclecticism; it was calculated ambiguity for a principality still formally subordinate to Sarai.
The HP II#1605 reference covers multiple die combinations, and the A/C, G/I designations indicate specific obverse-reverse pairings within that grouping. Die-matching these small hammered pieces remains genuinely difficult given their irregular flans.