The numismatic-archaeological collection of the Museum of Rudnik and Takovo Region contains mostly the specimens of coins from XIII, XIV and XV century. Four silver coins of King Dušan stand out in that collection.  

During the construction works on the church dedicated to St. George in Rudnik, some coins were discovered together with old building materials in May 1992. Out of ten specimens of Serbian medieval money made of silver, four of them are kept in our museum and one in the National Museum in Čačak. One coin was given as a present to Prince Tomislav Karađorđević, who was an honorary citizen of the Town Committee for the building of the church, and later on he gave it to the Endowment in Oplenac.

Silver dinar’s obverse shows an ornamented helmet with a plume containing three feathers on the top. There is also a Latin inscription saying STEFANVS DEI GRA REX. The reverse shows Christ sitting on the throne and holding the Gospel in his hands. There are initials IC XC on both sides of the head. The number of minted coins was proportional to the ruling period as well as the wealth of a ruler measured in silver mines. The most numerous sets of coins are dinars with King Dušan’s helmet, following dinars with King Dragutin’s and King Milutin’s flag.

Both the period and conditions of making and developing Serbian coinage influenced the iconography of coins. The image of Christ on the throne was taken over from the Venetian coin, whose images have their origins in Byzantine iconography. The appearance of the ornamented helmet as a symbol of chivalry and conquest on the coins during King Dušan’s rule clearly emphasised the warrior character of the ruler.

This heraldic symbol and its varieties can later be found not only on some types of money of kings Dušan and Uroš, but also on the coinage belonging to feudal lords and the latter rulers. Hidden dinars from Rudnik, which were stored there in the period between 1340 and 1345, depict only a small part of diverse and high-quality minting in Rudnik, which is still unfortunately not explored enough.