Evgeny M. Ushankov

1State Historical Museum, Moscow, Russia
2Institure of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia

E-mail: ushankov.evgeny@yandex.ru

Keywords: counterfeit denarii, monetary circulation, medieval Novgorod, numismatics, archaeology.

The article discusses counterfeit West European denarii of the 11th century AD found during archaeological excavations in Veliky Novgorod. Among the numismatic finds of the 10th–12th centuries AD, foreign coins play a significant role, in particular West European denarii and their imitations. Many of these coins, upon closer examination, turn out to be made of an alloy of base metals or with a violation of the technology of manufacturing denarii. The author classifies such coins as counterfeits, which account for 25–30% of individual coin finds in Novgorod as recorded by the author. Based on the material from Novgorod excavations, the paper illustrates various technological methods used by forgers to make counterfeits. The article suggests prototypes that forgers used as a reference. Based on the considered numismatic material and its archaeological context, the author assumes that it is important that counterfeit money be taken into account when studying the monetary circulation of medieval Novgorod. The author concludes that the strategy for choosing prototypes for these counterfeits adequately reflects the composition of the monetary circulation in medieval Novgorod, counterfeits being considered as a vivid evidence of such circulation. The author admits that some of the counterfeits were made in Novgorod itself.

DOI: 10.31857/S0869606325030154