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.

The principal currency of the period was the silver denga, also known as a "fish scale" because of its small, irregular shape. The newly discovered hoard contains 2,600 such coins, with a total estimated value of about 13 rubles. Experts say that sum could have been enough to purchase two houses in the city or an entire herd of horses, underscoring the considerable wealth of its owner.

The hoard is particularly significant because it contains coins bearing a previously unknown design featuring the image of a flying bird.

Researchers believe that similar coins were minted in Kolomna itself, which ranked as the Moscow Principality’s second city after Moscow. Comparable silver coins are exceptionally rare in hoards from other regions, and some varieties are absent even from the numismatic collections of the country’s largest museums, further enhancing the importance of the discovery.

"The rescue excavations conducted ahead of construction have yielded thousands of valuable artifacts that will allow us to add new details to this fascinating chapter of Kolomna’s history," Asya Yengovatova, head of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Moscow Region expedition, said, according to the institute’s press service. "Once the research is complete, we hope that this treasure will be displayed in the museum of the city where it was discovered.".