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2 Mark Klipping - Christian III

Issuer Denmark
Year 1535
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Technique Klippe
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Obverse description The obverse of this klippe-struck billon piece bears the crowned initial 'C' of King Christian III accompanied by the last two digits of the regnal year (35), along with a mintmark positioned above the shield of the Duchy of Holstein. The arms of Holstein are displayed centrally within the field, with the date numerals divided at the sides of the shield. The design is characteristically sparse, befitting the emergency or expedient nature of klipping coinage, struck on a roughly square-cut flan with irregular edges.
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Obverse lettering ·C· 3 5
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Additional information

Struck in the immediate aftermath of the Count's War — the civil conflict that ended in 1536 with Christian III's decisive victory and the simultaneous imposition of Lutheranism on Denmark — this klipping belongs to one of the most turbulent monetary moments in Scandinavian history. The irregular cut-square form was a wartime expedient, struck fast and rough to pay troops and creditors when there was no time for properly shaped flans.

The billon composition reflects a treasury under severe strain. Christian's war debts to Lübeck alone took decades to clear.

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