Researchers confirm 14th-century coin finding

The Lithuanian National Museum said last week that 62 silver coins discovered this summer in Vilnius include a previously unknown type of coin from the start of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy in the late 14th century.

"The uniqueness of this find is that it is the first time when coins of five different types, unknown in other countries, are found in one place," said Eduardas Remecas, senior specialist at the National Museum.

The coins were found during excavation work in central Vilnius before reconstruction of the palace used by leaders of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy, which at the height of its power in the 15th and 16th centuries stretched from the Baltic to the Black seas.

The find includes the first-ever specimens of a previously unknown coin bearing an imprint of Grand Duke Jogaila on one side and a double cross on the other.

Also found were 18 coins carrying Jogaila on one side and a leopard on the other, which were probably minted in 1386 and are believed to have been the first coins of the grand duchy.

Museums had only five specimens of this coin previously.

Another 16 coins carry a fish and a Cyrillic inscription on one side and a shield with a cross on the other.

It is believed that they were coined on the occasion of the introduction of Christianity to Lithuania in 1387.

Jogaila later married the heiress to the Polish throne, founding the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland, and is best known for defeating the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410.