3 Groats - Sigismund II Augustus Monogram; no shield reverse

The 1562 Lithuanian three-groat issue falls within Sigismund II Augustus's systematic currency reform of the 1560s, an effort to rationalize coinage across the Polish-Lithuanian union ahead of the 1569 Lublin unification. The monogram reverse without a shield is a transitional variant — the shield had appeared on earlier Lithuanian issues as a marker of dynastic authority, and its absence here reflects an evolving negotiation over how Lithuanian identity would be expressed on shared coinage.

Kopicki 3304 is notably scarcer than the shield-bearing types from the same year, likely reflecting a shorter production window rather than lower official mintages.