1/2 Groat (Półgrosz) - Sigismund II Augustus

Sigismund II Augustus began issuing these półgrosze for Lithuania in 1546, a full decade before the Polish monetary reform of 1558 that forced a reduction in silver fineness across both realms — the drop from .375 to .344 billon was a fiscal concession to decades of war expenditure against Muscovy and the Livonian Order. The sheer volume of Kopicki reference numbers assigned to this type reflects not numismatic pedantry but genuine die proliferation: the Vilnius mint worked continuously across this span, producing half-groats in quantities sufficient to sustain everyday commerce throughout the Grand Duchy.

The 1569 terminal date is not arbitrary — it marks the Union of Lublin, after which Lithuania's separate monetary identity was progressively absorbed into the unified Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth coinage system.