20 mm, 1.1 g, silver Obverse Walachian coat of arms - mountain eagle perched on a helmet; at left a six-ray star, a cross, a not identified object and a ladder Between the inner linear and the outer pearl circle Slavic legend: +IωVLA___DISLAV+	Reverse Coat of arms of the Basarab family(?) inside an inner pearl circle: a shield split vertically; four colored bars inside the first field - two sanguine and two silver, waning crescent inside the second one; a Maltese cross above the shield; outer pearl circle Slavic legend: +IωVLADISLAVĂVOEVωD

This medieval coin belongs to the collection of Mr. Bogdan Costin, through the kind permission of whom the pictures are present on Romanian coins.

The letter Ă (that we used to change into Latin alphabet letters the reverse legend) denotes the Slavic sound spelled alike the vowel in birth.

This silver coin was issued by Vladislav (Vlaicu) I of Walachia, the first Romanian prince known to have struck coin.

As a type this coin is known to Romanian numismatics as Walachian ducat, as complying to the system of ducats struck by Venice. In which concerns its pattern (obverse - reverse), it belongs to the most common denarius and ducat type, type that occured to almost every coin issue of the Walachian princes, since Vlaicu I (1364 - 1377) to Basarab (the Old) Laiotă (1473 - 1477, with many interruptions).

The legends on the coinage of Vlaicu I were written both in Latin and Cyrillic (Slavic). This one uses Cyrillic.

There are plenty of other variants in which concerns the legend, its respective fonts and of course misspellings.

According to the Bible of Romanian numismatics, Monede şi bancnote româneşti by George Buzdugan, Octavian Luchian and Constantin Oprescu (1977), this ducat is the first coin type struck in Walachia and it is classified as belonging to the common type of the Walachian denarii and ducats.

If you are in possession of Romanian medieval coinage other or better than the one featured by our site we ask you to please aid us with pictures. Help from other collectors to complete this numismatic icon is more than needed. Do not hesitate to contact us.