Ancient Money - Kievan Grivna. Casting Brass Ingot

In the Middle Ages in the Eastern European state which called Kievan Rus (Kyivska Rus), in which a very extraordinary money and in the same time, the measure of weight existed. This ancient money was called Kievan Grivna (hryvnia). It was made of silver (very rarely it was made of gold) and looked like ingot which had six angles. There were other types of grivnas and they had different shape, but this time it’s not about them. These silver ingots had the weight from 140 to 160 grams (4.9 – 5.6 oz). This medieval currency had a great value and used to save money and to make huge purchases. For small purchases, ancient Arabic and Roman coins were used.

Silver casting is not cheap, so I’ve decided to make brass casting. I made a plaster mold in the shape of the hexagonal ingot.

During this melting and casting, I used my new stainless steel crucible.

I made a brass ingot and in my opinion, it looked very similar to the original one. My ancient money replica is little heavier than original one – 198 grams (7 oz).