LITHUANIA, Grand Duchy. Zygimantas IV Vaza. 1588-1632. AV Ducat (21mm, 3.46 g, 1h). Vilnius mint. Dated 1591. NGC AU Details, obv. spot removed.

Triton XXIX
Lot: 1072. Estimated: $ 40 000

World, Coin-in-Hand Video, Gold

Sold For $ 45 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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LITHUANIA, Grand Duchy. Zygimantas IV Vaza. 1588-1632. AV Ducat (21mm, 3.46 g, 1h). Vilnius mint. Dated 1591. Crowned and armored bust right, wearing ruff / Crowned coat-of-arms. S&K 2157; Ivanauskas 7SV4-3; Kopicki 3557; Hutten-Czapski –; Friedberg 7 (date not recorded); Heritage 3041, lot 32346 (hammer $65,000) = Antykwariat Numizmatyczny - Muchal niemczyk 11, lot 206 (hammer 360,000 PLN). In NGC encapsulation 8414450-001, graded AU Details, obv. spot removed. Extremely rare. Only one example in CoinArchives.

Zygimantas (Sigismund) IV Vaza issued a remarkably brief series of gold ducats from the Vilnius mint. None appear to have been issued in the first year of his reign, and only the years 1589, 1590, and 1591 are known today, with the later being the rarest. Due to regional gold shortages, minting of the ducat denomination at Vilnius was abruptly suspended in 1591, with Zygimantas’s mint at Poznán in Poland also closed at this time.

Only one other of this date has come to market in recent memory, an example graded VF 35 by NGC. The cataloger of that specimen in its most recent appearance noted that the date was first recorded for a ducat as early as 1875, and that Gumowski knew of two (now untraced) at the time of his 1921 work on the Vilnius mint. The date was missing from the great Hutten-Czapski Collection.

The final winners of all Triton XXIX lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 13-14 January 2026.

Triton XXIX – Session Four – Lot 920-1141 will be held Wednesday afternoon, 14 January 2026 beginning at 2:00 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

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