The oldest coinage of a man who could have become a Polish king.
The minting of Charles Ferdinand of the House of Vasa, despite its wealth of types and forms, is one of the very rare. Over the years, his coins, especially those from the Nysa issue, have appeared sporadically at Polish auctions. The offering of as many as 4 of them can be considered a rarity, as confirmed by a museum search by Marek Folwarniak, author of a monograph on Karol's minting. Only 2 of all Polish museums boast more of his coins in their collections. We begin their offerings with the first of them!
Karol Ferdinand was a Polish prince, one of the sons of Sigismund III. As used to be the case with the younger sons of kings, he was apprenticed to the clerical state from childhood. Drawing on the connections of Sigismund and his mother Constance Habsburg, he was nominated to succeed him as bishop of Wroclaw at the age of 6, to assume the bishopric a few years later. He began his reign when he came of age (earlier, on his behalf, he was led by Pawel Piasecki). He administered it from Warsaw, but only economically, actively exercising the right to mint its coins. He minted the first of them just in 1631.
These were multi-drachma gold coins and silver clips minted with these stamps, described in the literature as two-coin coins. They reflect well the character of the entire minting of the Nysa Charles, as their issuance did not constitute circulating money. It had a prestigious and ceremonial character. It emphasized the status of the prince, being a form of gifts, as well as fulfilling his collecting passion. Hence the mintages of these coins must have been small, if only against the background of his brothers' issues, and the weights, especially of the silver pieces, vary.
It depicts the youngprince, accompanied by the titulature(Charles Ferdinand Prince of Poland and Sweden, Bishop of Wrocław), on the reverse proclaiming A IOVA PRINCIPIVM(from God the beginning).
A very nice cabinet piece. Doubled minting clearly visible on the obverse. All in drawer patina. Ex. NGC AU55.
Under the bust signature CVB (attributed to von Bren), at the bottom of the coat of arms shield HIH (of mincmaster Johann Jakob Huser).
This is the only piece of this clique listed at auction in Poland.
