The rarest type of pennies of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia.
Present in our offer for the first time. No listing in the Onebid or Niemczyk archives.
It is the first penny of Ernest Jan Biron.
It is the only copper penny in the history of this duchy. A large copper coin for the denomination, it was changed later that year to pennies in coin silver, with a smaller diameter and simplified iconography (with only the monogram with the date on the obverse).
Probably minted only as trial pieces.
A coin with a very nice uncirculated surface, only shallowly struck, which was due to the use of a hard metal such as copper.
Iconographically, it's an issue consistent with later copper sherds of this ruler (but without the denomination). With a bust on the obverse (in the rim the titulature"By God's grace Ernest John the Prince"). On the reverse having crowned shields with the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania in an ornamental cartouche (in the rim: IN LIVONIA CVRL ET SEMIGAL 1763).
