Tezaurul monetar de la Blăjani, județul Buzău
The hoard discovered at Blăjani, Buzău County

Summary/Abstract: This paper refers to a coins hoard discovered in Blăjani, Buzău County in July 2015, which contains 49 Polish silver coins struck between 1538 and 1605, and one Russian, from the late 18th century. 49 of pieces from this hoard are coins struck by polish kings for the Crown, Lithuania, Riga and Gdansk. Among them, we have: two pieces of 6 groats struck by Sigismund III Vasa (1587-1632) in Malbork mint (1596 and 1599), one coin, which is the oldest piece from this hoard, of 3 groats (trojak) struck in 1538 by Sigismund I (1506–1548) for the city of Gdansk, three pieces of 3 groats struck by ȘtefanBáthory (1575-1586)for Lithuania and two for city of Riga, and 41 pieces of 3 groats struck by Sigismund III Vasa (26 for the Crown, five for Lithuania, and ten for the city of Riga). About the last issuer, we can mention that the coins for the Crown were struck in mints of Bydgoszcz, Wschowa, Krakow, Lublin, Malbork, Olkusz, and Poznań between the years 1593 and 1605. The intensive use of the polish coins of three and six groats, most issued prior to reforms from the beginning of the seventeenth century, found in hoards after a long period from their struck, shows their quality, being preferred for retention instead of contemporary silver pieces, most part of these being struck in the Ottoman Empire. We have here and a Russian silver coin, of 15 kopecks, struck by Empress Catherine the Great (1762-1796) in the Moscow mint between 1770 and 1775, its presence being here, obviously, a coincidence. Thus, we consider that most probable the hoard was buried in the context of the resumption of the Ottoman military pressure in this area, after the ending of peace between Holy League (1591-16016) and the Ottoman Empire.

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