1 Skilling Dansk - Frederik III Shield type IId

Frederik III came to the Danish throne in 1648 facing a treasury hollowed out by decades of war with Sweden, and the small billon issues of his early reign reflect that fiscal stress directly. The Skilling denominations struck between 1652 and 1655 were produced with notoriously low silver content — the .156 fineness placing them barely above copper tokens — as the crown struggled to maintain a circulating currency without the reserves to back it.

KM#184.1 distinguishes the Shield type IId from related varieties by specific shield and crown die characteristics catalogued by later Danish specialists. Many survivors show planchet irregularities consistent with poorly refined billon of this period.