Photo Gallery of Wire Money - Early Russian Hammered Coins, circa 15-18th Century, page 1

Silver Coin Denominations Shown: Kopeck, Sword Kopeck, Denga and Polushka

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Denga, Ivan III	Denga, Ivan III	Denga, Vasiliy III

Denga, Vasiliy III	Polushka	Denga, Ivan IV

Sword Kopeck, Ivan IV	Sword Kopeck, Ivan IV

This photo gallery shows images of the early Russian hammered silver coins called "Wire Money" (also called "Fish Scales" in Eastern Europe) that were hammered at the Novgorod, Pskov, Tver and Moscow mints in Russia during the reigns of a few Russian rulers (not all!). The coins' dates of issuance range from 1479 to 1701.

Each image is accompanied with a description of the coin's design, which reflects the mint engraver's marks on the coin's obverse, and includes the exact transcription of a Cyrillic script running on the coin's reverse. All legends are translated as it is done in the wire money catalogue. The depicted hammered wire coins might lack certain details of their designs not only because of their wear and tear over time, but also due to the operational flaws in the crude method of minting the wire money. The method is described on this page.

Time Periods of Coins Shown:

1479-1505 (Tsar Ivan III Vasilievich)
1505-1533 (Tsar Vasiliy III Ivanovich)
1533-1584 (Tsar Ivan IV Vasiljevich (Ivan The Terrible))
1606-1610 (Tsar Vasiliy Ivanovich Shuisky)
1613-1645 (Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov)
1689-1725 (Tsar Peter I Alekseevich - Peter The Great)

Mints:

Moscow
Novgorod
Pskov
Tver'

Face-Values of Coins Produced after Monetary Reform 1535-1538:

1 Kopeck ("Novgorodka") =
2 Denga's ("Moskovkas") =
4 Polushkas

Coin Weights (1535-1608):

1 Kopeck: 0.68g
1 Denga: 0.34g
1 Polushka: 0.17g

Current prices for Wire Money range from $1 to $6 per coin in Extremely Fine condition at the East-European Internet auctions.

Last Updated in 2009

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