2 Schillings Lübisch 'Reuterpfennig' - John

The Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg was one of several fractional territories created by the catastrophic 1564 partition of Schleswig-Holstein among the sons of Christian III — a division that produced so many micro-duchies that historians still struggle to keep them straight. By 1620, the duchy was under Duke John the Younger, operating on revenues barely sufficient to maintain a credible court, let alone a mint. The "Reuterpfennig" designation — literally "rider penny" — refers to a cavalry tax assessment used across northern German territories to fund mounted troops during the lead-up to the Thirty Years' War.