Here is a numismat of one of the richest and most influential representatives of the Radziwill family in the 17th century.
Boguslaw Radziwill is a figure as famous as he is controversial. He was an ensign of Lithuania, horseman-at-arms, a multiple member of the Seimas. During the Swedish Deluge he sided with the Swedish king, saving him from death during one of the battles. After the Peace of Oliva, he gained the pardon of Jan Kazimierz, in the following years strengthening his political position in the Republic.
In 1657 he became the general governor of Ducal Prussia, and it is to this function that the present numismatic issue is connected. According to Jaroslaw Dutkowski, it was minted at the mint in Königsberg, in 1667, on the occasion of his tenth anniversary in office.
The stamps for this issue were prepared by Danzig-based medallicist Jan Höhn the younger. The multi-ducats minted with them have not so much a medal character as a monetary one, even though Radziwill did not have the rights to mint his coin.
Very nice state of preservation. Three bending lines on the surface. Preserved natural mint surface luster.
A unique and very rare issue.
Obverse: bust facing right, wearing wig, cloak and armor with a masquerade on the chest. In the rim:
D G BOGVSLAVS RADZIWIL DVX
By God's grace Boguslaw Radziwil the prince.
Reverse: emerging from the clouds a hand with a sword on which a laurel wreath is hung, under the eye of providence and the sun. In the rim the motto: PROMPTITUDINE PRVDENTIA (with haste and prudence).
