1 Fyrk - Sigismund of Poland Type I

Sigismund III Vasa was elected King of Poland in 1587 and inherited the Swedish crown in 1592 upon the death of his father John III, briefly uniting the two kingdoms in personal union. Swedish coins struck in his name — including this fyrk — represent an extremely short window before the Protestant Swedish nobility, deeply suspicious of his Catholicism, engineered his effective removal. He was deposed by his uncle Charles IX in 1599 after years of proxy governance and a failed military effort to reclaim the throne.

The billon composition reflects the chronic silver shortage afflicting Swedish minting operations throughout the late sixteenth century.