A very rare Elbingensis thaler of Wladyslaw IV Vasa, while with the ownership punch of the Potocki family, this is already a huge rarity.
An unlisted variety in the catalog "Corpvs Nummorvm Civitatis Elbingensis" with a different arrangement of berries in the wreath 20 on the left and 17 on the right.
Marian Gumowski in "Medals of Wladyslaw IV" distinguishes as many as 6 varieties, among others, differing in the number of berries in the wreath. These are variants 20 on the right and 21 on the left, 20-18, 22-20, without rosettes after ARMA and ELBINGA, 23-22.
Detail nice, well struck, above the portrait a trace of a pendant.
A rare and extremely magnificent coin, which only a few collectors could boast in their collections, and this rule still applies today.
Obverse: half figure of the king in armor in front without crown
VLADISL IV D G REX P M D L RUS PR MA SA LI N N SUEC GO VA H REX
Reverse: the oval city shield of Elblag in a wreath of leaves, above the shield the year 1635, in the center the initials I-I of Jacob Jakobson, at the bottom the abbreviated date 3-6
ELBINGA INTER ARMA SERVATA
Diameter 45 mm, weight 28.73 g
The circumstances of the minting of the presented thaler are brought closer to us by Messrs. Dutkowski and Suchanek in their study of Elblag coins "Corpvs Nummorvm Civitatis Elbingensis", where they write as follows: "The treaty concluded in Sztumska Wieś in 1635 provided for the return of the city of Elblag, occupied by the Swedes, to the authority of the Polish King. On January 12, 1636, the city paid tribute to King Ladislaus IV. The king himself arrived in the city on February 11, and after the townspeople presented him with 100,000 zlotys as a kind of reparation for his betrayal of the city, he approved all former privileges, including those granted by King Gustavus Adolphus. The city then concluded an agreement with Jakub Jakobson, the leaseholder of all crown mints, to start a mint in Elblag. However, due to the fact that minting of small coinage had been banned since 1627, only thalers were minted. They were modeled on the Danzig thalers with a depiction of the ruler's bust in front, and two dates were placed on the coin, 1635 referring to the peace in Sztumska Wieś and 1636 being the date the coins were minted."
During the reign of Ladislaus IV, a ban on minting small coinage, enacted back in the days of his predecessor, was in effect. It covered both state and municipal mints. Thus, the crown mints in Bydgoszcz and then from 1644 in Cracow minted only half-talars, thalers, ducats and multiples thereof. The mint production of the Prussian cities of Gdansk, Toruń and Elblag was similar. The Lithuanian mint was not working at the time. An exception was a trial portugal minted in 1640. A trial series of trojaks, sixpences and orts was also prepared by the Bydgoszcz mint in 1635. In addition to the above-mentioned issues, the minting of Wladyslaw Vasa also includes the kopecks b. d. from the time when Prince Wladyslaw was elected tsar of Moscow and the three-drachma of the Duchy of Opole-Racibor from 1647.
