Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Speciedaler - Christian V Danish East India Co. Trade coinage
| Issuer | Denmark |
|---|---|
| Year | 1672 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver (.875) |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Laureate and armored bust of King Christian V facing right, with long flowing hair. The king's cuirass features a lion-head pauldron at the shoulder, and he wears a draped scarf at the neck together with the badge and ribbon of the Order of the Elephant. A continuous Latin legend encircles the effigy along the rim, identifying the monarch by name and titles. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Christian V issued this speciedaler specifically for the Danish East India Company's trade operations in Asia, where European-weight silver coins were essential for purchasing goods from merchants who distrusted paper instruments and assessed payment by bullion content. The Danish East India Company had been refounded in 1670 after decades of dormancy, and coinage supporting its renewed ambitions was part of a broader mercantilist push to compete with the Dutch VOC and English East India Company on their own terms.
Relatively few examples entered prolonged circulation — the coin's purpose was commercial exchange at distant trading posts, not domestic use, which means survivors tend toward better preservation than their age suggests.