Archaeologists in Russia have uncovered a medieval hoard of 2,600 silver coins, including more than 350 varieties that have never been documented before. Experts believe the treasure may have been buried by a nobleman who subsequently died during a plague outbreak.
The coins were discovered inside a refined ceramic vessel, according to an Aug. 26 translated statement from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The jug was concealed in a pit within what is now the historic center of Kolomna, a city situated approximately 71 miles (114 kilometers) southeast of Moscow. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Kolomna ranked as the second-most-significant city in the region.
Most of the silver pieces are dengi, a coin type first introduced in the late 14th century by the Grand Principality of Moscow, a late medieval Russian state. Each denga held a value of half a kopek, with 100 kopeks equivalent to a ruble. The collection is predominantly composed of coins struck in Kolomna during the reigns of Vasily I (1389–1425) and Vasily II (1425–1462), both grand princes of Moscow, as the city and its surrounding territory operated as an independent principality during that era.
Among the most remarkable specimens is an exceptionally rare denga depicting a bird in flight, minted during the closing years of Vasily I’s rule. Furthermore, over 350 of the recovered coins represent previously unknown Kolomna varieties, which researchers are currently examining in greater detail.
The individual who concealed the Kolomna hoard was likely a person of considerable wealth and high social standing, possibly a senior government official or a particularly prosperous merchant, according to the institute’s statement.
While the precise motivation for burying the hoard remains uncertain, specialists suggest that the coins’ dates offer a significant clue. The most recently minted pieces date to the second half of the 1420s, indicating that the owner may have perished during a plague epidemic that ravaged Russian principalities between 1424 and 1427.