MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/. Scientists conducting rescue excavations in Kolomna, a city about 100 kilometers southeast of Moscow, have uncovered a hoard of 2,600 silver coins dating to the 15th century, when Russia was ruled by Vasily I, the son of Dmitry Donskoy, and his grandson, Vasily II the Blind. According to the press service of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the discovery is the first major find of its kind and offers an unprecedented glimpse into the monetary structure of a regional market in the Moscow Principality.
"It's crucial that the hoard has been preserved in its entirety. This is the largest coin collection of its time available to researchers and the first source that allows us to reconstruct the monetary structure of a single regional market in the Moscow Principality, down to the precise details of individual issues," the institute said.
Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology made the discovery during rescue excavations in Kolomna in the summer of 2026. The hoard consists of a jug filled with coins that had been buried in a shallow pit during the first third of the 15th century, possibly amid one of the plague epidemics that swept across the Russian lands at the time.
