12 Mark - Johan III

Reverse

Quartered greater Arms of Sweden (Three Crowns of Sweden on first and fourth, Folkungs Lion on second and third) inside a circle with legend outside.

Lettering: MONETA·NOVA·AVREA·REGIS·SVECIE

Translation: New gold coin of the King of Sweden

Comment

Gold content can vary.
In early 1589, both Sweden and Russia prepared for war. An armistice between the two countries was about to end a year later, and the Swedish king Johan III urgently needed cash for the coming expenses. This was the start of the second inflation period during Johan's reign. During the following years both round coins and klippes with a quickly decreasing silver content were produced. In 1590 a series of gold coins in mark denominations were also struck. The first coinage decree concerning these coins was issued by the king in August 1590. To start with, gold coins in the denominations 12, 6 and 3 marks were struck; at the end of the month larger ones with a face value of 48 and 24 marks were also produced. However, the gold content in these never exceeded 583/1000 and they were probably regarded as typical inflation coins by the people. According to the accounts from the Mint, they were mostly used for paying foreign mercenaries and merchants. The gold for the minting of these coins came partly from a special tax, levied by the king personally and paid by the cities in Sweden. King Johan delivered various foreign gold coins to the Mint to be melted down, mostly German goldgulden, English angels and Hungarian ducats. The coinage of mark denominations in gold continued in 1591, but the production was lower and was soon halted.

Interesting fact

Price

Date	Mintage	VG	F	VF	XF	AU	UNC
1590	2568	-	-	-	-	-	-

Values in the table are based on evaluations by sales realized on Internet platforms. They serve as an indication only for 12 Mark - Johan III 1590 coin.