1 Mark - Gustav II Adolf Laureate head - Type I

Gustav II Adolf was nineteen years old when this type entered production, having inherited a kingdom simultaneously at war with Denmark, Russia, and Poland. The Mark coinage of this period was minted under considerable fiscal pressure — Sweden's treasury was chronically strained, and silver supply depended heavily on imports and war indemnities rather than domestic mining. Type I is distinguished from the later issues of his reign by specific die characteristics that reflect the Stockholm mint's evolving engraving capacity during the early 1610s.