View source for History of coins in Romania

The '''history of [[coin]]s''' in the area that is now [[Romania]] spans over a 2500-year period; coins were first introduced in significant numbers to this area by the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]], through their colonies on the [[Black Sea]] shore.

==Ancient coins==
[[File:HistriaCoins.jpg|thumb|Histria minted coins]]
[[File:Koson 79000126.jpg|thumb|The golden denarius minted by [[Coson]].]]
[[File:SilverCoinMNIR Dacian era.jpg|thumb|Silver Koson found at Dealu Budii, Arges county, Romania]]
{{See also|Ancient Greek coinage|Roman provincial coins}}
The earliest documented currency in the Romanian territory was an 8-[[gram]] silver [[Ancient drachma|drachma]], issued by the Greek ''polis'' (πολις, city) [[Histria (Sinoe)|Histria]] (in the region that is now the [[Dobruja]]) in the year 480 BC. It was followed by other coins issued by other Greek poleis <!--yes, poleis is the plural of polis--> in Dobruja. In the 4th century BC, the coins of [[Macedon]]ian kings [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] and [[Alexander the Great]] were used in [[Dacia]], but also indigenous coins including the celebrated gold ''[[Coson|kosoni]]'' (named so after the [[Dacia]]n King depicted on most of the coins, [[Coson|Koson]] or [[Coson]]). In the 3rd century BC or 2nd century BC, Dacian minting increased in intensity. In parallel with the local coins in Dacia, coins from Macedonia Prima, [[Thasos]], [[Apollonia, Illyria|Apollonia]] and [[Dyrrachium]] also circulated. Similarly, [[Ancient Rome|Roma]]n coins such as [[Roman Republic|Republican]] and [[Roman Empire|Imperial]] ''[[denarius|denarii]]'' also circulated in the [[Dacia]]n territory, even before the Roman occupation, much as they continued to circulate even after the [[Roman Dacia#Roman withdrawal|Aurelian retreat]], later replaced by [[Byzantium|Byzantine]] money.

==Middle Ages==
{{further|Romania in the Middle Ages}}
[[Image:KreuzerBern.jpg|thumb|[[Kreuzer]] ({{lang-ro|Crăiţari}})]]

<!-- needed: more about Tatar coins, Byzantine, Genoese in Dobruja; also Hungarian coinage in Transylvania -->
Soon after their founding, the principalities of [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldavia]] each minted their own [[silver]] coins. Wallachia minted their first coins during the rule of [[Vlaicu Vodă]] (1364–1377) and Moldavia during the rule of [[Petru I of Moldavia|Petru I]] (1375–1391). 
[[Image:DUCATMUNTENESC1300InscriptieLAtina-Model2.png|thumb|[[Vlaicu Vodă]] ducat with Latin inscriptions]]
In [[Moldavia]], coins used the size and weight of the [[Grosh]], while Wallachia minted both [[Grosh]] and Hungarian [[Denarii]]. In both countries, early coins had alternately [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] and [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] inscriptions. Early Wallachian coins bear the coat of arms of the [[Basarab dynasty]] and have written with Latin script ''Transalpina'' (an alternative name of Wallachia).

The minting of silver coins being known as ''aspri'', a name derived from Greek ''áspron'', increased in the first half of the 15th century, but then ceased completely in Wallachia during the rule of [[Vladislav II of Wallachia|Vladislav II]] (1447–1456) and in Moldavia during the rule of [[Ștefăniță Vodă]] (1517–1527). Apparently, a major reason in this was the lack of a steady supply of silver (neither Wallachia nor Moldavia have their own silver resources), as well as increasing trade, which brought coins that replaced the local ones. The only city that continued to mint coins was [[Cetatea Albă]], in Moldavia.

In contracts and other documents, the numbers written were not actual numbers of the coins, but their value in a standard system: for example, the standard often used the [[gold]] system, but the payments were done with the local silver coins.

The earliest standard in Wallachia was the ''perper'', derived from the Byzantine gold coin ''hipérpyron'', which was replaced in the 15th-century Italian system of the ''[[ducat]]'' and the ''[[Florin (Italian coin)|florin]]''.

In Moldavia, the [[Lithuania]]n Grosh was replaced with the ''Zlot Tătăresc'' (Tatar [[Zlot (currency)|Zlot]]), which, despite its name, was not minted by the [[Tatars]], but it was a coin minted in the [[Genoa|Genoese]] colony of [[Caffa]].

Many different coins circulated in the Romanian lands over the course of centuries: [[Turkey|Turkish]] [[thaler]]s, Hungarian and Austrian [[guilder]]s (known in Romania as ''galbeni''), [[zloti]], Russian ''carboave'',<!-- does anyone know the right English for that?--> Venerian [[sequin (coin)|zecchini]], over 100 currencies in all.

Toward the end of the 16th century, a new coin began to be used in Wallachia and Moldavia, as well as in other parts of the [[Ottoman Empire]]: the [[Thaler#Dutch Republic|Dutch Daalder]]. These coins bear a lion on them (hence [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''leeuwendaalder'', [[German language|German]] ''löwenthaler'') and the name of the coin became abbreviated known as ''leu'' (plural ''lei''), which is still the name of the Romanian and Moldovan currencies. The Ottomans minted coins imitating the Dutch silver daalders and these coins were known as ''piaștri'', [[Piastre]].

==Modern times==
{{further|National awakening of Romania}}
{{main|Romanian leu|Coins of the Romanian leu}}
Through the [[Regulamentul Organic|Organic Regulations]] adopted in 1831 in Wallachia and in 1832 in [[Moldova]] stabilized the coinage used in the Romanian Lands: the [[Austro-Hungarian florin|Austrian florin]] and a silver coin known to numismatists as the ''Zwainziger'' from ''Zwanziger'', "twentieth", the [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]]ian ''[[kreuzer]]'', worth 20 [[Verona|Veronese]] denarii (in German ''Berner'', in Latin ''denarii cruciati'', ''cruciati'' meaning "crossed", from the cross on the coin).

As a recognition of unification, prince [[Alexandru Ioan Cuza]] wanted to mint a coin, to be called ''români'' or ''romanat'' following<!-- was după: did it mean Cuza was following Rădulescu, or Rădulescu is our source?--> [[Ion Heliade Rădulescu]]. This proved impossible, given the amount of metal in the possession of his state and the power of the Ottomans, who did not accept that their vassal state should have its own currency.

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*V. Costăchel, [[P. P. Panaitescu]], A. Cazacu. (1957) ''Viața feudală în Țara Românească și Moldova (secolele XIV–XVI)'' ("Feudal life in the Romanian and Moldovan Land (14th–16th centuries)", București, Editura Științifică
*''Dicționar de istorie veche a României'' ("Dictionary of ancient Romanian history") (1976) Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, pp.&nbsp;401–411
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Money}}
* [http://romaniancoins.ancients.info Medieval Coins of Moldavia and Wallachia]

{{Romanian currency and coinage}}

[[Category:Coins of Romania|*]]
[[Category:Economic history of Romania|Coins]]