The “iconoclastic grosz,” as it was colloquially dubbed in an article on the SpodStempla blog, is a very rare, first-type Tykocin grosz. It is characterized by the presence of the Jastrzębiec coat of arms (of Stanisław Myszkowski) on the reverse.
It is a controversial coin from a heraldic standpoint, as Myszkowski’s coat of arms not only replaced the Pillars of Gediminas (the historical emblem of Lithuania), but was also placed by the engraver on par with the royal monogram—beneath the ducal miter! This may have been the main reason why the earlier iconography was quickly reinstated.
This type is clearly rarer than the other type of grosz from this year (featuring the Pillars instead of the Falcon), a fact emphasized by Tyszkiewicz, who valued it 20 times higher (12.00 mk compared to 0.60 mk).
