2,600 Silver Coins Found in Kolomna Reveal Local 15th‑Century Minting and Possible Plague Burial

# What was found Archaeologists excavating the historic center of Kolomna in western Russia uncovered a ceramic jug containing about 2,600 silver coins. The discovery was reported by Live Science and communicated by A. V. Engovatova of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

# Context and dating

# What makes the hoard notable

• Quantity and containment: The coins were intentionally placed in a ceramic vessel and buried, where they remained undisturbed for centuries. The number—approximately 2,600—makes the find substantial for a medieval urban context.
• Local minting: More than 350 of the coins appear to be previously unknown varieties struck in Kolomna itself, providing direct evidence of local coin production.
• Iconography: Some dengi bear a rare bird-in-flight image, a motif not commonly reported on surviving specimens of this period.

# Possible reason the hoard was buried Researchers propose that the owner may have died during a plague epidemic that affected the region between 1424 and 1427. If true, the burial could represent an emergency concealment of savings that the owner or household could not recover.

# Why the find matters to historians and archaeologists The hoard expands the corpus of known late medieval Russian coinage in several concrete ways. The previously unrecorded Kolomna varieties give direct evidence of local minting practices and visual programs. The bird-in-flight examples offer new material for studies of imagery on dengi. Because the coins cluster in time around the early 1400s, they can refine chronological and economic understandings of the Grand Principality of Moscow's monetary circulation in provincial centers.

# Immediate and next steps Numismatists will catalog and analyze the newly identified local types and the bird motif. Cataloging will establish whether the Kolomna-issue varieties represent short-lived local series, emergency issues, or workshop differences. Conservators will stabilize the coins and the ceramic container. Publication of the full catalog and context report will be needed to integrate the hoard with regional monetary and social history.

# Bottom line This hoard offers a rare, well-preserved snapshot of small-denomination silver currency in a Russian urban center around the turn of the 15th century. The large number of previously unknown local types and distinctive imagery make the find significant for studies of medieval Russian mints, local economies, and the social consequences of epidemic death.