Catalog
Denga - Vasily I Dmitriyevich Shahada / Shahada
| Issuer | Moscow, Grand principality of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1403-1412 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Denga (0.005) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse field likewise occupied entirely by the Arabic Shahada inscription in multiple lines, mirroring the obverse in both content and layout. The legend 'There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God' is struck in a bold, somewhat compressed Arabic hand across the irregular silver flan. Letter forms show the characteristic angularity of Muscovite imitative coinage derived from Golden Horde prototypes. No additional devices, symbols, or border ornaments are present beyond the inscription itself. The strike is typical of hammered wire-cut technique, with portions of the legend occasionally weak or off-flan. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Vasily I inherited Moscow's mint from Dmitry Donskoy and continued issuing coinage under the complex political shadow of the Golden Horde, to whose khans Moscow remained nominally tributary. The Shahada — the Islamic declaration of faith — appearing on these dengas reflects that dependency directly: Mongol-influenced legends were carried over from earlier Muscovite coinage as a form of diplomatic acknowledgment, not religious conversion. The practice was pragmatic, not ideological.
HP II#1418 places this squarely within a transitional phase when Muscovite moneyers were still borrowing Tatar graphic conventions while beginning to assert local dynastic identity in the same dies.