This is an absolutely outstanding Insurrection five-dollar coin.
The only known piece with the full trademark of the paper mill of Jan Kool of Zaandijk.
A paper mill that has only recently been recognized as the one on whose paper the few pieces of "long" Insurrection banknotes were printed. Until now, the full appearance of its trademark on the banknote sheets was not known. There were only theoretical attempts to reconstruct it on the basis of documents and residual pieces visible in the margins of two(!) identified pieces. An example of one such banknote with a residual mark is in the OneBid Archive. The other known one has this watermark in such a vestigial form that even its owner has doubts about its correct interpretation, as he writes about in the comments on the Facebook group BANKNOTES - THE COOK OF KNOWLEDGE.
The person who first took an advanced look at the papers used to print Insurrection banknotes is Robert Jadrych. In his guest speech at our Fall 2022 numismatic session, he referred to the topic and the current state of research. In the 40th minute of the YouTube.com/@marciniak recording, he refers to the paper mill of Jan Kool of Zandijk, which we quote below:
"An interesting fact, perhaps the most spectacular because it is a relatively recent discovery.... paper from the paper mill of Jan Kool of Zandijk.... it is very difficult to see the outline of this filigree here, I have never encountered a full filigree. He certainly exists, a matter of time for it to surface.... I managed to personally reach two pieces with this auxiliary filigree.... I know of one more piece, that is, I know of three pieces of this paper mill, only on five-dollar coins...."
Later in the speech, R. Jadrych refers to an attempt to reconstruct the mark, since it is not known how this filigree should look in its entirety on banknotes, in what form it was used. The attempt to reconstruct the mark is shown in the attached screenshot of the presentation. As you can see, only the present piece of the banknote dispels doubts on the subject, showing the actual layout of the mark in its full form. We can see that it is with the full writing of the name John included in one line, without the addition of & Comp. Above the name we see a fragment of the coat of arms symbol.
A sensational item.
One of the milestones in research on the first Polish banknotes.
Not only is this item rare, even unique, extremely important from a scientific point of view, but it is also a piece in a beautiful state of preservation.
From the obverse side, it is a banknote with the appearance of fully uncirculated art. No bend lines are visible. The colors are intense and saturated, and the dry seal exhibits superbly. The ridges of light fractures are only visible on the reverse side, but are clean and without any rubbing. Technical condition rating of 3+, but in terms of attractiveness and presentation, this is top shelf condition for insurrection banknotes.
