A very rare and typologically desirable siege thaler, by Kacper Goebel.
An extremely distinctive issue, with a depiction of the bust of Christ on the obverse and the legend DEFENDE NOS CHRISTE SALVATOR, which means "protect us Christ the Savior."
Variety with nine flowers on the left side and six on the right, and with the right arm of the cross closer to the lower flower.
Obverse: bust of Christ in a radiant halo, ten clover leaves on the left side, eight clover leaves on the right side
DEFENDE NOS CHRISTE SALVATOR
Reverse: coat of arms of Gdansk, above the date
COIN NOVA CIVITATIS GEDANENSIS
Diameter 41 mm, weight 24.50 g
In 1576, Danzig refused to pay tribute to the new Polish king Stefan Batory, which became the cause of the city's armed conflict with the Republic, during which the Polish army besieged Danzig. During the siege, the city council, decided to mint its own coinage. As a result, a mint was launched in 1577, which had been closed since 1559 and operated only briefly in 1573 during the interregnum.
Management of the mint was entrusted to Kacper Goebl, who was removed from his post after only two months due to reports that he was minting more thalers than he was paying into the coffers, and minting pennies of inferior quality exposing the city to very heavy losses. Goebl was only responsible for minting silver coinage, as the council entrusted the minting of gold coinage to Italian Gracjan Gonzalo on August 31, 1577. After Goebl was removed, he was succeeded by Walter Tallemann of Lübeck, who managed the mint until the end of the siege. Coins minted by Tallemann have as their minting mark a bird called the Kawka. After the siege ended, incomplete coins were ordered to be withdrawn from the market by the end of 1578 and replaced with good ones.
