1/2 Thaler Siege coinage

Danzig struck emergency coinage in 1577 during the siege laid by Stephen Báthory, King of Poland, after the city refused to recognize his election and backed the Habsburg claimant Maximilian II instead. The siege ultimately failed — Báthory's forces could not take the city, and Danzig negotiated favorable terms — making this coinage a product of a successful resistance rather than a capitulation.

Siege issues were struck under duress from whatever silver was available, which accounts for the weight irregularities seen across surviving specimens. Kop. 7395 is among the more precisely documented varieties of the 1577 emergency output.