A rare Vilnius obol of Sigismund II Augustus.
The coin is valued by Tyszkiewicz, at as much as 80 marks.
In addition to denars, shekels, half-pennies, pennies, troyaks, sixpences and ducats, new varieties of money appeared under Sigismund Augustus: obols, two-denarii, two-pennies, four-pennies (4 pennies), half-pennies (30 pennies). The division between Crown and Lithuanian minting was in effect all the time: 4 Lithuanian pennies were equal to 5 Polish pennies. In addition, countersigned silver ducats and Spanish half-ducats appeared in monetary circulation, which was connected with the repayment of a debt by the Spanish ruler Philip II - the so-called "Neapolitan sums." During the reign of Sigismund Augustus, only the mints in Vilnius - where coins for the Lithuanian foot and the Polish foot were minted - and Gdansk worked. Sigismund Augustus' minting also included issues of a makeshift mint launched in August 1572 at Dalholm Castle, minting incomplete coins belonging to the Livonian monetary system. This was a one-time action to pay soldiers stationed in Parnava. Strictly speaking, these issues should be counted as part of the interregnum period (Sigismund Augustus died on July 7).
Obole - coins valued at ½ denarius - were minted by the Lithuanian mint in Vilnius in 1545-1547. This issue was connected with the great redemption action of the Świdnica half-penny (valued at 3 ½ denarii). The obols weighed the same as the Lithuanian denars, but were minted from silver of twice the inferior grade (III ½ glow) and contained 0.034 grams of pure silver. The obverse of the obols bore the royal monogram under a crown, while the reverse bore the Gediminas Columns and the date.
