20 Dukat - Wolter von Plettenberg Wenden

Wolter von Plettenberg was the greatest military commander the Livonian Order ever produced, having decisively defeated Ivan III of Moscow at the Battle of Smolina in 1502 — a victory that secured the Order's eastern frontier for a generation. This multiple dukat was struck in 1525 at the Wenden mint, the Order's administrative capital, likely as a presentation piece rather than circulating currency. At twenty ducats' weight, it functioned as a diplomatic object or gift, the kind of coin that moved between courts rather than purses.

In 1525, Plettenberg was also navigating the Lutheran Reformation sweeping through Livonia's towns — a pressure he managed with deliberate neutrality, a rare political dexterity for the time.