1 Ryal - Anonymous Riga, Countermark

Riga's civic authorities began countermarking foreign gold ryals in 1561, the same year the Livonian Order collapsed under pressure from Ivan the Terrible's forces and the territory fragmented among Poland-Lithuania, Sweden, and Denmark. The countermark effectively re-legitimized coins whose original issuing authority had ceased to exist — a practical solution to a monetary vacuum during sixty years of contested sovereignty over the eastern Baltic.

The ryal itself originated as a Scottish or English denomination. That a northern European port city would countermark it speaks directly to Riga's role as a major Hanseatic trading hub, where Western European gold arrived constantly through Baltic commerce.