TYPE Medieval Serbia, Despot Stefan Lazarevic (1402-27), silver reduced dinar, (Num11 type 2)
DESCRIPTION .
Obv: Two-headed eagle, pellets to sides
Rev: Christ in glory
REFERENCE: Jov. 41-25, Num11 2, SNS I-193
GRADING: VF / AVF, typically uneven strike, obv. bit o/c, toned, rare
ORDER INFO: S1484, $170
Very rare type, associated with the late-19th c. Rudnik hoard of Despot Stefan's small coinage; with its publication (1988), there were no more than 9 known specimens; a more recent find (of which this is likely a part) brought the total to 30. The Rudnik hoard, dated to shortly after the Battle of Angora (1402), was discovered in the late-19th c. and kept intact privately for almost another century before having been disclosed to the public in the mid 1980s. Its significance is that virtually all its 152 coins were of hitherto unpublished or extremely rare and misattributed types. More generally - a rare and early depiction of the Serbian royal symbol, the double-headed eagle.