4 Mark - Christian V

Christian V inherited a Denmark-Norway still restructuring its finances after the ruinous wars with Sweden that had stripped the kingdom of its Swedish provinces by 1658. The 4 Mark denomination was part of a broader currency reform effort under his reign, with the Royal Norwegian Mint at Kongsberg — established in 1686 using silver drawn directly from the Kongsberg mines — supplying much of the bullion that made these issues possible.

The Kongsberg mint's early years were marked by inconsistent die work and variable planchet quality, which accounts for the considerable range in strike quality seen across this type's twelve-year production window.