Mordovka (Russian: мордовка, pl. мордовки, mordovki) were minted or cast silver and copper plates made in the Middle and Lower Volga region during the 16th to 18th centuries. The obverse side usually featured coarse, stylized images of a horseman, horse, bird, and other figures. The reverse side had inscriptions made from sets of letters, often imitating Russian kopecks. According to the Kazan Chronicle, mordovki, referred to as pieces of silver (серебреники) in chronicle, were used as both adornment sewn on clothes and as coins.[1]
A distinctive version of the mordovki had a triangular design. They sometimes depict a woman in a tall headdress.[1] Numerous hoards containing large numbers of mordovki have been discovered in the Volga Region and Central Asia.[2]
- ^ a b Shitov 2004, p. 22.
- ^ Pachkalov A. V. "Svod monetnykh nakhodok na territorii Volgogradskoy oblasti". Voprosy istorii i arkheologii Zapadnogo Kazakhstana [Coin assemblages from Volgograd Oblast. West Kazakhstan history and archeology review]. Issue No 1/2010. Uralsk, 2010, pp. 147—190.