Lithuania: silver half-grosz of Sigismund II Augustus of Poland, 1550; Vilnius mint

Lithuania: silver half-grosz of Sigismund II Augustus of Poland, 1550; Vilnius mint

Obverse: * MONETA * MAGNI * DUCAT ' LITVA, knight on horseback (Vytis) left, 1550 date, all in inner beaded circle.
Reverse: * SIGIS * AVG * REX * PO * MAG * DVX * II, crowned, spread eagle, head left, within inner beaded circle.
Issuer: Sigismund II Augustus, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Specifications: Silver half-grosz , 20 mm, Vilnius mint. Weight unrecorded, but the standard for the type was 1.25 g.
Grade: PCGS MS63; cert. #83818887. Acquired in the slab.
Reference: Numista-35047, PCGS-527538, Ivanauskas/Cesnulis 4SA45-13, Kopicki 3242.*
Provenance: Ex-Podlaski Gabinet Numizmatyczny Marek Melzer, (PGNUM), Poland, via MA-Shops store, 1 December 2017.*
Notes: This coin was struck when Lithuania was under Polish rule. The iconic charging knight on it remains the symbol of Lithuania on its coat of arms, and can be seen on more modern Lithuanian coins as well.
Comments: I love these coins because of the lively design on both sides, as well as the fact that they bear early dates in the 16th century. Because they are fairly common, prices are relatively modest even for Mint State examples like this. This example has somewhat subdued luster, but looks a bit better in hand.



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Since this writeup garnered no replies when I posted it a bit over a year ago, and I was just here tweaking the pictures and writeup a bit, I thought I'd shamelessly give this one a bump back up into the sunlight, briefly.