W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

364 The Coins of Europe
and chiefly consists of small silver pieces, many of which bear
the mystical bull's head surrounded by a rose, a star, and a
crescent, the reverses exhibiting heraldic devices. The name
of the sovereign usually occurs :
Bogd. Waiwo., Petri. Wai-
remained
wodi., Alexandri. ; and one prince describes himself in the
sixteenth century as Father of Moldavia. The legends are
sometimes partly in Greek characters. There appear to be
no coins posterior to 1666.
The money of Wallachia (i 360-1799), while it
a separate government of the same complexion as that of
Moldavia, is of a more varied and ambitious character, and
offers the common German and Low Country type of an
eagle surmounting a helmet but some of the later rulers
;
placed on the coins their bust draped in the kolpak. Pieces
of ten ducats in gold were struck for special purposes and
occasions.
Considering
that Moldavia and Wallachia exercised
monetary rights during so many centuries, it is surprising
that specimens should so sparingly occur. The Russian
currency for the two provinces in the time of Catherine II.
(1771-74) limited itself to pieces of I, 2, and 5 para with
the values in Greek and Russian.
The modern kingdom of Roumania, comprehending
nearly the whole of this region, has possessed since I 867 a
coinage in all metals: in copper, i, 2, 5, and 10 bani;* in
silver, ^ and i leu, and 2 and 5 lei ; and in gold, 5, 10, and
20 lei. The leu is = a franc, and seems to be the same
word as livre or lira; 100 bani are = i leu. The bano is
presumably referrible to the titular appellation given to the
sovereigns of Bosnia.
From the eleventh century we have Bulgarian silver and
gold money of different kinds, including siege-pieces connected
with the struggles against the Greeks. But the
Bulgaria. ... _ , ,
most usual types are of the reign of Asan I. (II 86-
96) and his successors after the establishment of autonomy, and
1
There have been at least three coinages 1867, : I, 2, 5,
and 10 bani with
no legend but Romania; 1879-81, 2 and 5 bani with titles as Hospodar
(Domnid Romaniei) 1882-85, 2 an