Obv. monogram SR for king Stephen of Poland, below, a kettle hinge for the House of Kettler.
Silver, 0.54 g; 14.1 mm. Kruggel & Gerbaševskis 1.1.1.1; Kopicki 4003 (R5). Very Fine, flan flaws on the obverse.
An extremely rare twopenny (priced at 8 gold marks
by Tyszkiewicz) whose Courland origin is indicated only by the Kettler arms
under the royal monogram. Still in the first quarter of the 17th century,
Lithuanian twopences played a very important role in the monetary circulation
of Courland and Livonia; probably the alleged Riga ‘denars’ of King Stephen
from 1582 also represented this denomination.
