2 Speciedaler - Christian IV

Christian IV was fourteen when he assumed the Danish throne in 1596, and the heavy speciedaler issues of his early reign were struck under the fiscal machinery inherited from Frederick II rather than any policy of his own devising. The 2 Speciedaler denomination was never a circulation piece — at roughly twice the weight of an already-large speciedaler, these were prestige strikes intended for diplomatic gifts, treasury reserves, and the kind of high-value settlement that bypassed everyday commerce entirely.

Davenport's EC I listing places this among the great European thalers of the late sixteenth century. Very few were struck across the entire 1597–1600 window.