Coin circulation on the territory of present-day Lithuania in the middle and the latter half of the 17th century

Remiantis monetų lobiais ir pavieniais radiniais, straipsnyje aptariama XVII a. vidurio ir antrosios pusės monetų apyvarta dabartinės Lietuvos teritorijoje. Svarstoma, kokia galėjo būti monetų kalybos apimtis, analizuojami monetų cirkuliacijos trukmės, jos ypatumų klausimai, aptariamos įvežtinės užsienio monetos, jų įvežimo priežastys ir vaidmuo. Taip pat svarstomas to meto pinigų vertės klausimas.In the middle and the latter half of the 17th century coin circulation on the territory of present-day Lithuania was evidently different from that in the first half of the 17th century. The changes were driven by the 1654–1667 War which severely devastated the country and by failure in the 1600–1629 War with Sweden. After these wars, the Common State of Poland and of the GDL not only found itself in a serious demographic and economic but also financial crisis. In the aftermath of the war with Sweden, low value coins of Livonia under the Swedish rule flooded the country. In addition, large numbers of low value coins of other territories – mainly counterfeits from Sucheava – were brought into the country. To self-protect against their invasion, own coinage was undertaken. In the GDL in 1652–1653, shillings were struck at the Mint of Vilnius in the largest amounts totalling 9 to 12 million. It was, however, just a minor counterbalance, as it only made up 1/100 of the amount struck at the Mints of Riga and Livonia under the Swedish rule. The Baltic mints of Sweden and Sucheava inflicted harm to Poland and the GDL which amounted to around 26 million zloty or the Commonwealth of the Two Nations’ budget revenue of about two years. An outbreak of a new war made look for new budget revenue to settle with the Army. With this aim in view, it was decided to start minting copper shillings. In addition, new coins – zloty of a lower value (30 groats) began to be minted in 1663, actually worth just 12–18 groats. At first, the minting of copper shillings justified itself. However, the State sought to receive still more revenue from coinage, thus instead of 180 million 1.5 billion copper shillings were minted. Another 120–150 million shillings were produced by different counterfeiters. All these coins for five decades became the dominant coin which ousted all alien small coins and remained in circulation for 100 years. Apart from copper shillings, from the latter half of the 17th century a larger amount of medium value coins – Polish 6-groats, orts and zloty were also in circulation. In 1664–1666, 6-groats were minted in the largest amount at the Mint of Vilnius, but the amount was very little – just around 550 thousand pieces. Along with local coins, there circulated almost the same amount of coins of the same denominations of neighbouring Prussia too. Among the highest value coins, thalers minted in the United Netherlands and gold ducats dominated the circulation in 1650–1668. There were few of the latter, yet their amount in circulation increased markedly from previous periods. However, already in the last quarter of the 17th century pathagons of the Spanish Netherlands and their halves and quarters began dominating the thalers, while gold coins almost disappeared from circulation. Scottish copper pence, Russian kopeks, Swedish 2-Mark coins, Austrian and Hungarian coins of different denominations, thalers of the Bishopric of Liège and French thalers and their halves (the largest ever amount of French coins that had appeared in circulation in Poland or the GDL), as well as a tiny amount of other coins appeared in circulation during the period under review. Foreign coins were imported due to a shortage of own ones, however only coins with their value closest to local coins basically used to appear in local circulation. Coins were imported for fraud and gain purposes as well. Due to currency depreciation, in the mid-17th century the Lithuanian population held many more coins than previously but their monetary value was markedly lower than in the first half of the 17th century. Towards the end of the 17th century, as discovered hoards suggest, the population had already accumulated larger amounts of money, yet its purchasing power remained similar on account of inflation