On the Technique of Minting Russian Coins during the second Half of the Fifteenth and the First Fifteen Years of the Sixteenth Century (V. Kalinin)

During the period in question the centralization of money production is achieved in the Muscovite state: mintage is concentrated in Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and Pskov, the units of currency are standardized and the volume of production is increased. Corresponding changes take place in the technical aspects of minting. Thus in the second half of the fifteenth century the matrix - an instrument for the mass copying of dies - became universally accepted. The consequences of its introduction are clearly seen in coins struck at the Novgorod mints during the early 1480s. The author's analysis of Moscow and Novgorod currency from the second half of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century helps to elucidate a number of questions connected with the process of preparing matrix dies.