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820 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
ro,
2. an ox; 3.a tiger; 4.a hare; 5. a crocodile or dragon; 6.a ferpent; 7. a horfe;
8.alamb; g.an ape; 1o,ahen; r1.a dog; 12.ahog. Of thefe all but the croco-
dile, the ape, and the hare, appear on the coins; and perhaps the Tartars who over-ran
Ruffia, ufed inftead of them, the fwan, harpy, and fyren. The coins impreffed with
the figures above-mentioned, were probably ftruck in the correfponding years of the
cycle. The annual tribute paid by the Ruffians to the Tartars was marked by the ani-
mals which denote the particular year of the cycle; and, as in fome coins two of thefe
animals are reprefented at the fame time, probably the tribute of two years was delivered
at once. 2. Coins with a Tartar infcription exhibit images of men on foot, or on
horfeback, holding in their hands a fabre, a lance, and a falcon ; alfo of griffins, goats,
fowls, and fwans. 3. Coins with Tartar and Ruffian infcriptions. 4. Coins with only
Ruffian charaéters without date. We may remark on the three laft claffes, that the
charaéters infcribed on the coins were fometimes Tartar, fometimes Ruffian, and fome-
times both ; as the fovereigns were more or lefs fubject to the Tartar yoke. 5. Coins
of the Great Dukes, beginning from Vaflili Demitrievitch, and ending with thofe of
of Vaftili Ivanovitch. ‘The year in which the Great Duke firft {truck money at Mof-
cow is not afcertained ; but from the Ruffian infcription on the moft ancient pieces of
this clafs, Vnaes Veliki Vaffili, the Great Duke Vaflili, probably about the year 1424,
when Vaflili Demitrievitch obtained a complete victory over Kundal, Khan of the ‘Var-
tars. The year before the death of Ivan Vaflilievitch I. a coin was {truck by Ariftotle
of Bologna, who, with other foreign artifts, was drawn by that Prince to Mofcow.
6. Coins of the princes of the blood who held independent principalities, thofe of Ga-
litz, Svenigorod, Mofhaifk, Bielofero, Sufdal, Refan, Tver, &c. 7. Thofe of the prin-
cipal towns, which had the right of coining ; Novogorod, Plefcof, Mofcow, Tver, &c.
The moft ancient are thofe of Novogorod, where the Tartar money had no currency ;
as the commercial intercourfe with foreign nations has introduced the Lithuanian and
Swedith fpecie.
8. Coins from the Tzar Ivan Vaflilievitch II. to the majority of Peter the Great. ‘The
firft gold piece was made in the reign of Ivan, when the impreflion was greatly im-
proved. On fome of thefe pieces I obferved on one fide the fpread-eagle and an uni-
corn, and on the reverfe, the fpread-eagle, with a St. George and the dragon on its
breaft. The firft introduétion of the fpread-eagle is fuppofed to be owing to the mar-
riage of Ivan Vaflilievitch I. with the Greek Princefs Sophia, in whofe right he is faid
to have founded pretenfions to the Greek empire, and to have borne that device upon
his arms. But we have no proof of the faa, either from the coins of this monarch, or
from the accounts of Herberftein and Poffevinus; and Ivan Vaffilievitch II. was un-
doubtedly the firft Prince under whom the device of the {pread-eagle was ftamped on
the coin; but hiftory is filent on what occafion it was aflumed. The firft rouble, which
before was only ufed like our pound fterling in computing, was coined by Alexéy Mi-
chaelovitch. In this clafs are three coins remarkable in the hiftory of the empire: the
firft is a Ruffian ducat, having the heads of the two Tzars Ivan and Peter Alexievitch
on one fide, and on the other that of their fifter Sophia, with the crown, {fceptre, and
royal robes. The others are two coins of Ivan and Peter, which baffle the conjectures
of hiftorians: they bear no date; and as thefe Princes were joint fovereigns, no anti-
quary has accounted for their feparate reprefentation, when the money during their
reign was, excepting in this inftance, uniformly impreffed with both their heads. 9. The
laft clafs comprifes all the money iffued by Peter and his fucceffors ; upon comparing
thefe with the preceding coins, it is evident to the commonelt obferver, how much the
3 die
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