The coin comes from the collection of Jadwiga Zakrzewska-Kleczkowska. Daughter of the well-known numismatist-medievalist Prof. Zygmunt Zakrzewski.
A very rare type of coin known, among others, from a treasure from Cieszyn (Teschenbusch) discovered in 1877. Attributed by Marian Gumowski to either Poznan or Kalisz, depending on the obverse inscription. In Edmund Kopicki's catalog, being the opening item of the municipal minting section of Poznan.
The coin, whose iconography, Jaroslaw Jąder, sees in the new coat of arms of Wielkopolska established by Casimir the Great in the middle of the 14th century (more in the pages of the blog MonetyMiastaPoznania). Prof. B. Paszkiewicz elaborates on this iconography, stating that in the system of coats of arms from the time of Casimir the Great, the crowned head of an aurochs was the coat of arms of the entire Wielkopolska region, but over time it became the coat of arms of the Kalisz province only.
The latest findings on this issue are presented by Prof. Borys Paszkiewicz in a lecture on the minting of Casimir the Great delivered at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The recording of this lecture here. Coins with identical iconography with the head of an aurochs were minted both in Poznan and in Kalisz, the information about the place of minting being recorded in the obverse legend.
The present piece comes from the mint of Kalisz, with visible in the upper left part pieces of the characteristic letters LIS being a fragment from the notation KALISIA.
Obverse: Piast eagle surrounded by an inscription.
Reverse: a head of an aurochs in a crown with a ring in its nostrils, surrounded by an inscription.
Silver, diameter 11 mm, weight 0.32 g.
format_quoteJadwiga Zakrzewska-Kleczkowska (1910-1985).One of the few women who made a lasting mark in the history of Polish numismatics. Daughter of renowned numismatist-medievalist Prof. Zygmunt Zakrzewski.
From an early age she shared her father's numismatic interests. Later, she independently continued the family numismatic traditions, participated in the work of numismatic societies in the country and abroad, in particular, active in the circle of Polish and Czechoslovak numismatistsformat_quote
