Lithuania: silver half-grosz of Sigismund the Old of Poland, 1512

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by lordmarcovan, Mar 14, 2021.

  1. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Lithuania: silver half-grosz of Sigismund the Old of Poland, 1512
    02-Lithuania-1512-gradient.png

    Obverse: Vytis (charging knight; symbol of Lithuania).
    Reverse: crowned eagle.

    Hammered silver, 19.7 mm, 1.21 g. A very early dated coin struck in the reign of     Sigismund I ("The Old"), king of Poland, at a time when Lithuania was under Polish rule. The date is expressed as "IZ" (12) at the end of the obverse legend, so (15)12. I bought this attributed as "1 grosz", but I rather suspect it is a half-grosz.

    01-Lithuania-1512-black.png

    02-Lithuania-1512-gradient.png

    03-Lithuania-1512-white.png

    04-Lithuania-1512-coionscape.png

    05-Lithuania-1512-obv.jpg

    06-Lithuania-1512-rev.jpg

     
    lordmarcovan, Mar 14, 2021
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  3. eddiespin

    eddiespin Fast Eddie

    I love old coins with my ancestors on them, even though they never get a mention in the description. Seriously, how do they fix the date on one like that, is it by the period of reign, an estimate, in other words? Unless there's one on there, I'm just not making it out.
     
    eddiespin, Mar 14, 2021
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  4. GH#75

    GH#75 Trying to get 8 hours of sleep in 4. . .

    read the description... it says the IZ means 12, and from there they have 1512
     
    GH#75, Mar 14, 2021
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  5. eddiespin

    eddiespin Fast Eddie

    I thought it might be on somewhere. They didn't know back then how to make a 2, huh? Lol.
     
    eddiespin, Mar 14, 2021
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  6. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    If you think the late-medieval 2's are weird, you should see the 4's and 7's. @tibor can show us some examples of that.

    Quite a few places began dating coins in the 1400s and 1500s, but at first, many of them only put the last two digits of the date on there, as in this case.
     
    lordmarcovan, Mar 14, 2021
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  7. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

    I don't know why, but a lot of Polish-Lithuanian coins use that Z for 2 numeral.
    For example, this 1614 3 polker is 1/24 of something (I forget what).
    Poland-Lithuania 1614 3 Polker copy.png
    Or this 1521 City of Schweidnitz 1/2 groschen Louis II looks like 15:Z1 for the date
    Poland city of Schweidnitz 1:2 groschen Louis II 1521 copy.jpeg
     
    The Eidolon, Mar 14, 2021
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  8. tibor

    tibor Supporter! Supporter

    1476-Brabant-II-24.jpg
    On the left image the date is between 10:00 and 12:00. The "4"
    looks like a squared of ribbon. The "7" looks like an upside down "V".
     
    tibor, Mar 14, 2021
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  9. tibor

    tibor Supporter! Supporter

    1495-i336a.jpg
    On this piece the last two digits of the date (14)95 show
    at 11:00. The "5" looks like a "7" with a wavy top.
     
    tibor, Mar 14, 2021
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  10. tibor

    tibor Supporter! Supporter

    1492-i288b-2.jpg
    On this piece, the "2" in the date is backwards.
     
    tibor, Mar 14, 2021
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  11. The Eidolon

    The Eidolon Well-Known Member

    These are really interesting. The influence of Arabic shows through more clearly on some of the older numeral forms. (Image swiped from Wikipedia: Arabic numerals) The_Brahmi_numeral_system_and_its_descendants.png
     
    The Eidolon, Mar 14, 2021
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