The first circulating thaler of the Republic!
Its uniqueness and exceptionality can be considered in several aspects.
It is both the first denomination of this type minted in the Republic on a wider scale, for circulation, and the first subvalue coin minted in modern Poland. It was given the official rate of 30 pennies - written on the obverse, under the monogram, as XXX - but contained silver for about 7 pennies less. The reason for such a move was the need to finance the war with Russia.
Marian Gumowski in "The Vilna Mint" described its genesis as follows:
"The reason for issuing this type of coin in 1564, according to Zagorski, was the war with Moscow over Inflants and the desire to make as much income as possible from the mint. So far there is no source that would confirm this news, but the fact is that these thalers betray their ephemeral and occasional character in every respect. Neither their mint rate is applied to that of the foreign thalers in circulation at the time, nor does the drawing of the stamps, unsigned, betray due preparation....
This thaler has the number XXX inscribed on the stamp, which means it has a forced rate of 30 pennies.... If we pay the thaler with trojaks of 1563-65, 10 such trojaks will give.... pure silver.... 6 gr close to more than a thaler. That is, on each thaler the treasury earned when exchanging or paying in pure silver 7 pennies....
This was, as you can see, an excellent financial operation, but in the short term and only dictated by war necessity. Nor could the minting of this type of coinage last long, and already in the following 1565 it was contemplated....
These coins, the only ones among the Polish thalers, have no inscriptions at all, and have the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as constructed as nowhere else. The coat of arms is 6 field with the Serpent of the Sfors (the royal mother) in the center and the coats of arms: Poland, Lithuania, Ruthenia, Samogitia and Volhynia."
Solid, decent, defect-free third state of preservation. Natural, very attractive half dome.
A coin of great rarity, always sought after by collectors and highly valued.
An additional advantage of this coin is its provenance dating back to the turn of the 19th-20th century. It is a coin purchased by Kazimierz Zbichorski from Wlodzimierz Gluchowski, who inherited it from his father, Bronislaw, who had been collecting coins since 1895.
