Ancient Coins Tote Bag (Black)

This illustration is inspired by the first coins of Kyivan Rus, minted by Volodymyr the Great, the Prince of Kyiv who ruled in the late 10th and early 11th centuries.

On his gold and silver coins, Volodymyr stamped his personal princely sign: the tryzub (trident). For centuries, this symbol was largely forgotten. It was revived in 1918 when the modern Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) was searching for a national coat of arms.

The UNR officially adopted Volodymyr's ancient sign as its state symbol, creating a powerful, unbroken link between the 20th-century independent Ukraine and its ancestral heritage in the great Kyivan Rus.

Many of these original, foundational coins — physical proof of Ukraine's thousand-year state tradition — are currently held in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, a legacy of Russia's appropriation of Ukrainian cultural heritage.

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Pictured here:

- News Operations Editor Chris York wearing Ancient Coins tote bag