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3 Mark - Erik XIV
| Issuer | Sweden |
|---|---|
| Year | 1562 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Central quartered shield bearing the arms of Sweden: three crowns (Tre Kronor) in the first and fourth quarters, and the crowned Folkung lion passant in the second and third quarters, with an escutcheon of the Vasa family arms (a wheatsheaf) at the centre point. The shield is surmounted by a royal crown and enclosed within a beaded inner circle. A horizontal Latin legend runs along the periphery of the field. |
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| Reverse description | An elaborate allegorical landscape scene depicting an archipelago with a coastal city visible along the shoreline set against a turbulent sea. Above the scene, a royal sceptre descends from parting clouds amid radiating sunrays, symbolising divine favour. The entire composition is enclosed within an ornate decorative circle. The royal motto in Latin is inscribed along the outer legend, with the date appearing at the conclusion of the inscription. |
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| Additional information |
Erik XIV came to the Swedish throne in 1560 with conspicuous dynastic ambitions, and his coinage policy reflected them directly. The mark denominations of his reign were issued partly to fund his prolonged and ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of Catherine Jagellonica — a contest he lost to John, his own brother, a rivalry that would eventually lead Erik to imprison John and later descend into the paranoid episodes that ended with his deposition in 1568.
Billon at .375 fine was a deliberate debasement from earlier Swedish silver standards, a fiscal compromise driven by the costs of the Northern Seven Years' War against Denmark, which began in 1563.