Ecology, saving, and reusability. How countersigned coins changed the face of coin usage in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Many interesting exhibits can be found in the funds of the Money Museum. Among them, some of the most fascinating are countersigned coins, commemorating the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These are at first glance simple money, but they contain symbols that do not fit into the whole. Where did they come from? How and why were they used in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania?
 
First, the question arises as to what countersigned coins actually are. These are coins on which additional dies of various shapes are struck. In ancient Lydia (now Turkey) such coins appeared as early as the end of the 6th century BCE, although their production was not yet widespread. They could be produced by bankers, money changers, and public officials alike. Unlike in ancient Lydia, the use of countersigns in the Roman Empire was more frequent because it was necessary to change the legal status, monetary value, or local significance of the metal money used in the conquered territories. In addition, new stamps were forged on worn-out coins (which reduced the original value of the coin), the names, monograms, or mottos of the generals who led uprisings were minted in times of such change, and they could be reprinted on the coins that were circulating at the time (most often such images were minted on portraits or titles of emperors against whom the uprisings were held).

We know from archaeological discoveries that Roman coins were found in the present-day territory of Lithuania. However, according to scientists, they did not perform the function of money. In 1935, a treasure of several hundred Roman coins (mostly silver) from the 2nd century was found in Darkuškiai, Širvintos district, which raised a number of questions. To whom did the treasure belong and what significance did it have for the local population? According to researchers, Lithuanians learned to process silver and gold only in the 4th and 5th centuries, so the treasure was probably left by a merchant on a trip to Scandinavia, where precious metals were valued more.

Due to the increased demand for metal money, other countries’ money, which was already used as a means of payment, began to circulate in Lithuania. For example, the Prague grosz, which came to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the late 14th-early 15th century, was of great importance and used in conjunction with Lithuanian early coins and silver alloys. Later, between the 17th and 18th centuries, the patagons of the Spanish provinces of the Netherlands, silver ducats from the United Netherlands provinces, German thalers, Dutch ducats, were used. Although some of them were used for commercial purposes, however, apart from the Prague grosz, they did not circulate as a state currency. Another fate was met by the Golden Horde’s coins that entered Lithuania through conquests, battles, or trade routes: in the second half of the 14th–first half of the 15th century, they were intended to be issued into circulation in their own lands, and for this reason, countersigned coins were introduced in the GDL.

Certain stamps were already being made on silver alloys, which in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were circulating together with the first coins. It is worth mentioning the Lithuanian tri-sided alloy in the Money Museum, which is embossed on one side with a countersigned crown with a decorated round ornament. Such an alloy could have been made for the ruler’s treasury during the reign of Jogaila (Grand Duke of Lithuania 1377–1401, King of Poland 1386–1434).