The first dated denarius of Lithuania in a very rare variety.
This is the first issue of Sigismund II’s denars, which Edmund Kopicki knew of in two basic varieties—differing in the orientation of Pogoń’s tail. The more common variety features the horse’s tail pointing downward, while the variety classified as R7 in rarity has the tail pointing upward, as seen on this denarius.Ivanauskas described these denars in greater detail, just as he did for the half-groszy, drawing attention, among other things, to the design of the knights’ shields and the eagles. However, he did not record this particular variant.
This is a denarius featuring Pogoń with a rectangular shield bearinga “lattice”—a convex double cross—instead of the concave cross typical of such coins. This shield design is known from some half-groszy coins from the years 1545–1546.
A sound, attractive specimen, with only slight surface soiling.
This is the first time it has appeared in our inventory.
The rarity of this variety is also confirmed by the Onebid archive, where out of 22 denarii from this year, only 1 was of this variety (over 5 years ago!).
Sigismund II Augustus began minting his own coins in 1545 in Vilnius, while serving as co-regent to Sigismund the Old. These were half-groszy and groszy. Just one year later, he introduced additional denominations to the mint—obols, denarii, and trojaks—but among them, only the denarii were minted regularly at the beginning of his reign.
