The Vilna mint in Batory's time minted almost all denominations, but only shekels and trojaks would be minted on a large scale. Other denominations such as denars, sixpences and pennies are among the items that are very rare and valued by collectors today.
The pennies in Lithuania under this king were minted in only two vintages. Their issuance began in 1580 and was probably completed in early 1581. The present piece is a very nice representative of the first of these.
A coin with a natural mint fresh background. Slightly deficient in places, which is typical of this issue (minted on wider, but thinner disks than triplets).
A variant with coat of arms shields on the reverse.
Variant with the Batory coat of arms separating the date, and legends ending in LIT / LITVA.
