Lithuanian counterstamps, 1421-1481: on the golden horde's silvers

ENThe practice of counterstamping one side of a coin with a small die was used infrequently in the West but was quite widespread in the East. This fact is often explained by more oppressive traditions of power, since counterstamped currency is usually associated with increased seigniorage, or issuing ruler profit. Indeed, the cost of counterstamping an old, void-of-guarantee coinage is significantly below the cost of producing a new currency. However, the countermarks do not contribute to the political prestige of the issuer, as their owned issued money would have done, and, perhaps more importantly, such money cannot become be used in international trade, since their exchange rate is guaranteed only within the state issuing them. Lithuanian countermarks circulated exclusively in areas of the Lithuanian-Horde frontier, almost without any penetration into the interior of the state. [...].