The rarest sixpence of Augustus III Sas.
A unique numismatic coin, which the collections did not include Count Potocki or all four great coin collections sold before the war.
To Edmund Kopicki it was known only from the two largest coin collections in Poland: Emeryk Hutten-Czapski and the National Museum in Warsaw. By Jaroslaw Dutkowski, co-author of a monograph on that mint, it was noted in two others: the Malbork one (described by Bahrfeldt in 1910, which was lost during WWII and, according to the latest findings, is wholly in the collection at the Hermitage) and the one by Kazimierz Zbichorski, which we are now offering to you.
This makes the present piece the only piece available on the antiquarian market of a sixpence with angels on the reverse!
An iconographically unique coin.
The only one in the entire history of Elblag minting, on which the city's coat of arms is held by two angels. An arrangement so well known from Danzig coins, where the city's cartouche is held by two lions. So unique to Elblag, which since the time of Jan Kazimierz had placed an Angel, but only one, above the coat of arms, or none at all.
Considered a trial issue.
In its more than 250 years of operation, the Elblag mint only minted sixpences for four years! The first time was during the reign of Sigismund I the Old (1535-1536), waiting more than 200 years for the next sixpence. Their issuance took place in the last years of the reign of Augustus III Sas. This was the city's response to the flooding of Poland with sub-value, counterfeit Prussian coinage. By a decision of the City Council, the mint resumed operations in 1760. At first minting only shekels, it was expanded in subsequent anniversaries to include higher denominations. Issuance of sixpences began in 1762. As Jaroslaw Dutkowski points out, the mint's administrator at the time - Jost Carl Schröder - submitted designs for sixpences to the City Council several times. However, not all of them were accepted, remaining only as trial prints. One of them is the sixpence offered in this auction!
In addition, a coin with provenance going back to the 19th, which you can read more about in Norbert Grendel's article on grupamarciniak.pl.
First time at auction in Poland.
No listing in the archives of Polish companies or the international Coinarchives database.
There are coins that are so rare that you begin to doubt their existence until you finally see one in person. That class of coin is precisely the Elbląg sixpence with angels....
