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1/4 Thaler - Gotthard Kettler Wenden
| Issuer | Livonian Order |
|---|---|
| Year | 1559-1560 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/4 Thaler |
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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 | A four-quartered heraldic shield occupies the central field, enclosed within a linear square border. A Latin legend appears above the shield, while the date is inscribed below. The composition is characteristic of mid-sixteenth-century hammered coinage produced under the authority of Gotthard Kettler, last Master of the Livonian Order. The overall striking is irregular, consistent with hand-hammered production at the Wenden mint. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely blank, presenting an unadorned, slightly convex planchet surface with no design, legend, or decorative elements. The irregular texture and surface characteristics are consistent with a hammered flan left intentionally uninscribed, a feature occasionally encountered on emergency or provisional issues of this period. |
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| Additional information |
Gotthard Kettler was the last Master of the Livonian Order, and this coin was struck during the Order's terminal crisis — the opening years of the Livonian War, with Ivan the Terrible's forces advancing from the east and the Order's military position collapsing. Kettler would dissolve the Order entirely in 1561, converting to Lutheranism, secularizing its remaining territories, and accepting Polish-Lithuanian suzerainty as the first Duke of Courland.
Wenden, now Cēsis in modern Latvia, served as the Order's administrative headquarters. The town's mint produced issues in these final years under conditions of acute political emergency.