Kufic coins from the Nerevskiy excavation trench and new evidence of counterfeiting in Novgorod

The paper reviews separate kufic coins found in 1953-1961 in Novgorod in the Nerevskiy excavation trench. The coins were published before; however, new research made it possible to clarify their attribution. Besides, the examination of the surface conditions and inscriptions as well as metal analysis have shown that the coins thought to be common Samanid dirhams were actually copies cast in bivalve molds obtained from genuine coins. They do not contain silver and are made from a tin-based alloy; it means that they are counterfeits. According to the dating of cultural layers these fake coins appeared somewhere before 953 and stayed in circulation till the first quarter of the 11th century inclusively, but with indications (holes) of secondary use as pendants. In 1998 the Troitskiy XI excavation trench revealed a hoard of such fake coins cached in the 940s. The analysis of the dirham hoard distribution in the Ilmen Lake region and the Volkhov region demonstrates that after the 870s up to the mid-10th century there was a chronological gap in the region...