Go to Page 2, Russian Medieval coinsThe history of Russia typically begins with Scythians who successfully attacked Assyrians, Persians and Greeks with such horsemanship that they gave rise to the legends of the centaurs and so fiercely that their women gave rise of tales of Amazons. The Slavic tribes in what is now known as Russia got organized by the intervention of Normans or Vikings sometime in the 8th or 9th century AD (the Varangian hypothesis) and variously traded, battled, and allied with the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine colony in Cherson on the Crimea became the center of converting, then civilizing the Slavic tribes, who built cities, libraries, and churches on the Byzantine model from Kiev to Novgorod. Constantinople's destruction in the fourth crusade (1204) and the coming of the Mongols in the 1230s isolated and destroyed the Kievan Slavic empire. It is much debated just how civilized and literate the Kievan princes had become or how Christian the countryside was. The Mongols ruled ruthlessly until 1380 and their defeat at the battle of Kulikovo. They were not officially overthrown until a hundred years later by Ivan the Great in 1480.
        Russian medieval coinage was patterned on the Mongol coinage of hammered wire coins. Each princedom--and there were more than a dozen--minted its own coins in a wild profusion of images and designs as silver kopecks and copper puls, As Moscow princedom grew to absorb and centralize it neighbors, the coinage became standardized with the mounted prince, then great prince, then czar with spear or sword, often spearing a dragon on the front, and his name and titles on the reverse. The coinage may have a mint mark under the horse and later on a date. The coinage continued until Peter the Great, who modernized Russian coinage and created the first decimal system of coinage. Coins before Vasili or Basil II (1425-1465) are rare and expensive. Coinage afterwards is plentiful except for some rarities from the time of trouble (1584-1613).

Grand Princes of Moscow
Dmitri Donskoi 1359-1389)
Vasili I (Basil the Blind) 1389-1425
Vasili II (Basil II)1425-1462
Ivan III (Ivan the Great) 1462-1505 - first Sovereign for all Russia
Vasili III (Basil III) 1505-1533
Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) 1533-1547
Tsars of Russia, 1547-1721
Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) 1547-1584
Feodor I (Theodore I) 1584-1598 - last of the Riurikovich
Boris Godunov 1598-1605
Feodor II (Theodore II) 1605
False Dmitri I 1605-1606
Vasili IV (Basil IV)1606-1610
Succession broken due to Time of Troubles
Michael I 1613-1645- first of the Romanovs:
elected Tsar following the Time of Troubles
Aleksei I 1645-1676
Feodor III (Theodore IV) 1676-1682
Ivan V 1682-1696 (joint ruler with Peter I)
Peter I (Peter the Great) 1682-1721

Novgorod Republic, AE  pulo, fine, crowned head, 15th C.
   rev. PULO/NOVAGO/PODA, cf. Sp 67:9

Novgorod Republic, AR denga, vfine, Two standing figures, 1420-1456
   rev. Four line Inscription, Sp66.1

Tver, AE  pulo, fine, bird right, 15th C.
   rev. PU/LOTB/bPbCKOE, cf. Sp 67:1

Tver, AE  pulo, fine, bird left, 15th C.
   rev. PU/LOTB/bPbCKOE, cf. Sp 67:1

Moscow, AE  pulo, fine, 2-headed eagle, 15th C.
   rev. PU/LOMOCK/BACK/OE, cf. Sp 67:1

Ivan III, AR denga, fine, knight on horse, 1462-1505
   rev. 2  banners with monogram, Sp 75:5

Basil III, AR denga, fine, 2 stars & rosette,...BELHKH.., 1505-1533
    rev. rosette,  MOCKOBCR+DEHGA, Sp 75:6

Ivan IV (Terrible), AR denga, fine, horseman right, 1533-1584
    rev. KHSb/BELIKI/IBAHb, Sp 79:8 (Moscow)

Ivan IV, AR kopeck, doublestruck, good,St. George,1533-1584
    rev. VPbH./KHSbB/ELIKH..IB/AHb.BCE/M.PYCU, Sp80:11 (Novgorod)

2-Theodore I, AR kopeck, fine, knight on horse, CM below horse,1584-1598
   rev. VpbH/BELIKIH/KHSbQEDO/PbBCEM/PYC, Sp81:2 (Moscow)

Ivan III and Basil III, AR denga, fine, 2 stars & rosette,...BELHKH.., 1505-1533
    rev. rosette,  MOCKOBCR+DEHGA, Sp 75:5

Ivan IV (Terrible), AR denga, fine, horseman right, 1533-1584
    rev. KHSb/BELIKI/IBAHb, Sp 79:7 (Moscow)

Ivan IV (Terrible), AR denga, fine, horseman right, 1533-1584
    rev. KHSb/BELIKI/IBAHb, Sp 79:3 (Moscow)

Ivan IV, AR kopeck, afine, St. George,1533-1584
    rev. VPbH./KHSb.B/ELIKH.IB/AHb.BCE/M.PYC, Sp80:3 (Moscow)

Ivan IV, AR kopeck, fine,St. George,1533-1584
    rev. VPbH./BELIKH./KHSb.IBAHb. Sp80:9 (Moscow)

Ivan IV, AR kopeck, fine, St. George, PC below horse,1533-1584
    rev. VPbH./KHSbB/ELIKH.IB/AHb.BCE/M.PYC, Sp 80:10 (Pskov)

Boris Godunov, AR kopeck, fine knight on horse, PC below horse, 1598-1605
  rev. VPbBE/LIKHS/BOPICFEODO/POBI4bBCE/MPYCU,Sp 81:8(Pskov)

Boris Godunov, AR kopeck, fine knight on horse, monogram below, 1598-1605
  rev. VPbBE/LIKHS/BOPICFEODO/POBI4bBCE/MPYCU,Sp 82:5(Novgorod)

False Dmitri, AR kopeck, fine, mounted  knight with lance,1605
  rev. VPb. BE/LIKIKHSb/DMITPE.IBAHOBI4b.BCE/M.PYCU, Sp 81:11 (Moscow)

Basil (Vasili) IV, AR kopeck, fine, mounted  knight. with lance,1606-1610
  rev. VPb. BE/LIKIKHSb/BRCILEHII.IBAHOBI4b.BCE/M.PYCU, Sp 81:14 (Moscow)

Swedish Occupation of Novgorod (Shiuski imitation), AR kopeck, afine, mounted knight, HPG below horse,1611-1617
  rev. VPb.BE/LIKIKHSb/BRCELII.IBAHOBI4b.BCE/M.PYCU Sp 83:5 (Novgorod)