The great ruler Stephen the Great, outstanding army commander and diplomat, was also concerned during his life with the economic prosperity of the country, supporting the development of crafts, trade and fairs. During his reign, groși and half groși minted in the dinar system were issued, a monetary system introduced in Moldova during the last reign of Petru Aron (1455-1457).
The coins were minted from silver of superior title, those that reflect stability in the economic life of the country at that time. Their masterful execution at the Suceava mint is among the beautiful artistic achievements during the reign of Stephen the Great.
During his reign, two types of issues were minted, for the two denominations: groși and half groși.
Type I issues have a split shield on the obverse; in the first quarter appears a rose surmounted by a cross and three fascias, in the second quarter. For the epigraph issues (groși), the image is accompanied by the circular legend with the name of the issuer: + STEFANVS VOIEVODA. On the other side appears the bour's head with a star between the horns accompanied by the heraldic furniture - the rose and the contoured crescent, placed to the right and left of the bour's head; circular legend: MOLDAVIE COIN.
On type II coins in the shield on the obverse appears a patriarchal cross (double) and the legend STEFANVSVOIEVOD or abbreviated STEFANVSVOIE. On the reverse, as in type I, the bour's head with heraldic attributes is preserved: rose right/crescent left and crescent right/rose left. A star or rose appears between the ox's horns. The legend accompanying the face with the bour head is MONETAMOLDAVI or abbreviated MONETAMOLDA.
The dating of Stephen the Great's coins is still under discussion. According to one opinion, type I issues were minted between 1457-1476, and type II between 1480/1481-1505 (Octavian Iliescu), and another 1465/1467-1475/1476 for type I and 1476/1479-1497 for type II (Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu).
The coins in this showcase were discovered during the archaeological excavations at Orheiul Vechi (Trebujeni, Orhei district) in the 6th and 7th decades of the 20th century:
1. Type I money issues, groși, silver 2. Type II money issues, groși, silver 3. Type II coin issue, half groși, silver
Burial of the Early Iron Age near Slobodzeja at the lower bottom of the river Dniester
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. III [XVIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
In the publication are analyzed materials from the destroyed soil burial, which have been found out in 1979 under casual circumstances on the southeast outskirts of town Slobodzeja, in steep of the left coast of the river Dniester. Initial form and the sizes of a funeral complex were not established. In it were found three ceramic vessels (two urns and one basin), and also a bone fastener and an iron bracelet which were in one of urns. Besides in filling of two vessels are revealed calcinated bones.
The burial was performed by cremation ceremony whereupon ashes together with inventory have been placed in ceramic urns. The funeral practice and inventory unequivocally point out a Thracian accessory of a complex and find analogies on the monuments of type Byrseshti-Feridzhile. Based on a bone fastener and black lustred basin of Feridzhile type burial is dated by border of VII-VI centuries BC.
Appearance of the given complex on the left coast of the river Dniester is connected by the author of the publication with migration of the regular wave of the Thracian population from southern regions of Romania. Materials from multilayered settlement near village Chobruchi (bowls with a decor on an upper edge), located in immediate proximity from a burial and at a certain stage of the existence making with it a single whole also testify to it.
Сергей Фидельский
Dwellings of the Chernoles culture in the forest-steppe between the Dniester and Dnieper Rivers (analysis, typology and comparative analysis)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Сергей Фидельский
New materials of the Iron Age in the Middle Dniester left-bank region
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIV [XXIX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică, Chişinău, 2020
The great ruler Stephen the Great, outstanding army commander and diplomat, was also concerned during his life with the economic prosperity of the country, supporting the development of crafts, trade and fairs. During his reign, groși and half groși minted in the dinar system were issued, a monetary system introduced in Moldova during the last reign of Petru Aron (1455-1457)...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
