Catalog
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| Issuer | City of Visby |
|---|---|
| Year | 1391-1394 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.11 g |
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| Obverse description | Central field depicts a crowned bust facing forward, rendered in a flat, archaic Gothic style characteristic of late 14th-century Gotlandic coinage. The crown is prominently executed with radiating points and surmounted by a cross, while this type is distinguished by the absence of a halo around the head. The bust is shown with schematic drapery indicated by incised lines. A circular beaded inner border frames the central device, with the Latin legend in uncial characters distributed around the periphery. The overall strike is irregular, consistent with hand-hammered medieval production. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | WISBYCENSIS (Translation: of Visby.) |
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| Additional information |
Visby's municipal coinage of the 1390s was struck under increasingly precarious circumstances. The city had been sacked by Valdemar IV of Denmark in 1361, and though it limped on as a trading center, its position within the Hanseatic League had been fatally undermined. These örtug issues represent the last gasps of an independent civic mint — within a generation, Visby's role as a Baltic commercial power was effectively finished.
The absence of the halo on type 41b distinguishes it from related issues in Haljak's Gotlandic sequence, a small but cataloger-critical detail that likely reflects a die cutter's decision rather than any doctrinal shift.