Denga - Vasily II the Blind

Vasily II earned his epithet the hard way: blinded by his cousin Dmitry Shemyaka in 1446 during a brutal succession struggle that had already seen him captured, ransomed, and deposed. He recovered the throne the following year and reigned until his death in 1462, a period during which Moscow's monetary output was tightly controlled and deeply irregular. These final issues of his reign reflect a principality consolidating power rather than one at peace.

The denga's fractional weight places it at the lighter end of Muscovite silver coinage, consistent with gradual debasement trends across the mid-fifteenth century Russian principalities.