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1/2 Örtug - Svante Nilsson
| Issuer | Sweden |
|---|---|
| Year | 1504-1512 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/2 Örtug |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field displays a crowned Gothic letter, likely an initial associated with the regent Svante Nilsson, enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The surrounding legend, rendered in Gothic uncial lettering, runs along the outer ring between two beaded borders. The overall design is characteristic of late medieval Swedish hammered coinage, with a slightly irregular flan and bold, deeply struck central device. The shield or crowned emblem above the letter references the issuing authority. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin (uncial) |
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| Additional information |
Svante Nilsson (Sture) governed Sweden as regent from 1504 until his death in 1512, never holding the title of king yet issuing coinage in his own name — a political assertion that Danish-backed opponents found deeply provocative. The örtug was a medieval Scandinavian denomination with roots in the mark system, and the half-örtug sat at the lowest practical level of silver coinage in circulation. These pieces served the dense trading networks around Stockholm and the mining regions of Bergslagen.
Nilsson died at Västerås in January 1512 while Sweden remained technically under the Kalmar Union, making his personal coinage issues a brief administrative anomaly within that contested political arrangement.