Tyragetia (Dec 2020)
Sadagura coins from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova
Abstract
In the second half of the 18th century, the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia did not have their own national monetary systems and national currency, which determined the presence of various types of foreign coins on their territories. At the same time, the dominating regime and the Russo-Austro-Turkish wars determined the intensity of circulation and the emergence of certain types of monetary units. A striking example in this regard is the minting by foreigners of some new coins for the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, namely, Sadagura coins having Turkish and Russian face values at the same time. These coins were put into circulation during the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-1774 and were issued from 1771 to 1774 at the initiative of the Russian army, and the reason for their minting was the need for small coins to carry out current transactions in Moldavia and Wallachia. From 1771 to 1774, there were issued coins for circulation: 1 para / 3 dengas and 2 pare / 3 kopecks, but at the same time, pattern coins were also minted in 1771-1773. The collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova contain both coins with a face value of 1 para / 3 dengas, and coins with a face value of 2 pare / 3 kopecks, which are isolated finds and confirm the circulation of these monetary units in this territory and the issuance in larger or smaller quantities of one of the two types of currency that were in circulation. The results of the analysis of these finds are very important, since they allow us to get an idea about the circulation of these types of coins in our space, as well as about all such finds in the principalities. These issues circulated in the territories of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia and constitute a special aspect of money circulation in the second half of the 18th century, and isolated coin finds reflected in this work confirm the presence of Sadagura coins in the Prut-Dniester region and contribute to a complete picture of their circulation.
