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1 Goldgulden Countermark
| Issuer | Riga, Free city of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1561-1581 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.51 g |
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| Obverse description | Standing figure of King Vladislaus II in royal robes, facing forward, holding a sceptre in his right hand and an orb in his left, with a shield bearing the countermark of crossed keys — the arms of the city of Riga — applied to the field. The entire design is encircled by a beaded border and a Latin legend identifying the issuing authority. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Riga applied countermarks to foreign gold gulden during this period as a municipal guarantee of accepted fineness, allowing coins struck elsewhere to circulate officially within the city's commercial networks. The practice was common among the major Baltic trading centers, where no single territorial mint could supply sufficient gold coinage for the volume of Hanseatic commerce passing through the port.
The city lost its status as a free imperial city when it submitted to Polish-Lithuanian suzerainty in 1581, which places a hard terminus on this issue.