Gros coin, Stephen the Great, type IIb, 1457-1504, silver (classified Hoard)

silver, d=15 mm

0.57 g

Obverse: Aurochs head with a star between its horns, a rosette and crescent moon on the sides, and the legend in Slavonic " + MONETAMOLDAVIE"

Reverse: Shield with a double cross and anchored ends, and the legend " + STEFANVSVOIEVODA"

DOCUMENTARY DATA

Saint Stephen the Great, canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church, was the longest-reigning ruler of Moldavia, and of both medieval Romanian Principalities, between 1457 and 1504, for a period of 47 years. The coinage attributed to the reign of Saint Stephen the Great consists of groschen and half-groschen in the Ottoman asper system, a monetary system that continued the monetary reform of Petru Aron (1455 - 1457). The coins are of two types: those of superior silver content, relatively few in number, used mainly to pay the military service of boyars and mercenaries, and less so for commercial exchanges, where payment in coins issued by more powerful neighboring states was preferred.