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11/2 Grossus - Sigismund III Vasa Riga
| Issuer | Mint of Riga |
|---|---|
| Year | 1616-1617 |
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| Composition | Billon |
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|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | SIG · III · DG · REX · POL · M · D · L · (Translation: Sigismund III Dei Gratia Rex Polonia Magnus Dux Livoniae Sigismund III Vasa, with God`s grace, King of Poland and great Duke of Livonia) |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Sigismund III's Riga issues of this period reflect the administrative tangle of a Swedish-controlled city being coerced into producing coinage for a Polish-Lithuanian king who had lost the Swedish throne in 1599. The Riga mint operated under municipal authority, and its relationship with Sigismund was perpetually fraught — the city's Protestant burghers had little enthusiasm for their Catholic overlord, and the billon quality of small-denomination output from these years reflects chronic silver shortages across the Baltic.
The 1½ grossus denomination itself was a short-lived experiment in the Polish monetary system, introduced to bridge awkward gaps in everyday transaction values.