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!
3 Grossus - Friedrich Kettler Mitau
| Issuer | Courland and Semigallia, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1596-1606 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | 21 mm |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is divided into three registers. At the top, the Roman numeral III denotes the denomination. In the central field, a displayed eagle of Courland is positioned to the left and an armored horseman of Lithuania to the right, both serving as heraldic devices of the duchy. Below these charges, the legend GROS · AR · TR · DVCVM · CV ET SE · runs across the field, with the date rendered in two digits on either side of a rosette in the lower portion of the coin. The overall composition reflects the standard tri-grossus typology of the Baltic states in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Friedrich Kettler ruled Courland and Semigallia as a Polish-Lithuanian vassal duke, and his coinage reflects the awkward administrative reality of that arrangement — struck at the Mitau mint yet obligated to conform to the monetary standards set by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's reform edicts. The groszy issues of this decade were the bread-and-butter currency of Baltic trade, circulating across Livonian markets already disrupted by decades of warfare following the collapse of the Teutonic Order's successor state in 1561.
The decade-long span of this type suggests multiple die marriages rather than a single production run.