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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,694 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4883 Posts |
This is a coin I found today kicking around in a shop's box of unsorted material. I recognized it as being Lithuanian, and have subsequently identified it as a halfgroat of Zygmunt II. Just under 20mm in diameter with a weight of 1.2 grams. It's silver but I can't find a specification as to fineness. Although this type is supposed to exhibit coin alignment, this specimen's obverse and reverse are oriented almost exactly 90° from each other.   Colligo ergo sum
Edited by Lucky Cuss
05/22/2019 11:00 am
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Moderator
 United States
34418 Posts |
@LC, as you know, our own @giedrius is the expert on these as he literally wrote the book on Lithuanian Half Groats: http://goccf.com/t/282866. I realize that this book covers slightly earlier time period (AD 1495 to 1529), but therein a fineness of 6/16 (37.5%) is mentioned. Until he weighs in with a more accurate answer, I would use this value. "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
I've always like this coin type but haven't gotten around to buying any yet. Nice coin.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7948 Posts |
Very nice pickup!
I think a number of the "How Far Back" gang have one or more of these in their collection, as they are a very affordable/available coin that ran from the late 1540s to mid 1560s.
I just checked mine on alignment, and they are all over the place (medal/coin/90 degrees) though the majority (including my 1560) are close to medal alignment.
According to Gumowski, fineness specification was 6/16 (37.5%) from 1545-58, and 5.5/16 (34.3%) after 1558.
There are a large number of variants of this type, so I hope @giedrius will eventually get a look at yours. In a quick look through the WCN archive, I did not see the variant with L/LIT (respectively in the obv and reverse legends) in recent sales, so I think yours may not be one of the most common variants? (but best for a real expert to weigh in)
Edited by tdziemia
05/23/2019 07:01 am
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Valued Member
Lithuania
386 Posts |
Congratulations! Great and rare coin with LIT at the end of reverses legend, 4SA182-24 and RRR (!) in E. Ivanauskas'2014 catalogue. Silver fineness is about 375 only by the same catalogue. The same legend and rarity, but different Ivanauskas number on Polish auction https://wcn.pl/archive/119669?q=1560+wilno+&page=4Edited by giedrius
05/23/2019 09:55 am
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Valued Member
Lithuania
386 Posts |
Picture from Ivanauskas book:  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4883 Posts |
Quote:
Great and rare coin with LIT at the end of reverses legend, 4SA182-24 and RRR (!) in E. Ivanauskas'2014 catalogue. I assure you that this is an instance of the proverbial blind squirrel finding an acorn. Living up to my moniker, I guess. Colligo ergo sum
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4883 Posts |
Does my specimen correspond to one of the Kopicki numbers (3259 through 3263) for this date?
Colligo ergo sum
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New Member
United States
3 Posts |
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Valued Member
Lithuania
386 Posts |
@Lucky Cuss, no, this coin is not included into Kopicki book. Kopicki did not paid attention to interesting A on reverse of the coin. Ivanauskas was the first, who published this coin in his catalogue.
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Valued Member
United States
215 Posts |
I just picked up one of these too! There were a bunch on ebay. How could I resist such a cool coin from the 1600s with mint luster for $10 bucks! Nice pickup! |
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Moderator
United States
34418 Posts |
Quote:
I just picked up one of these too! I hope that you are planning to add pics to this thread when you have your new coin in hand. Always nice to drool!  "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,694 |
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Posted 05/22/2019 04:03 am
