A beautiful, above-average "zbrojarz" coin. Shallow scratches on the obverse, but also nice, well-preserved details. An attractive, lustrous reverse.
A distinctive thaler featuring an artistic portrait of the king, commonly known as the “armorer.” A coin whose minting, in addition to its economic value, also held prestige. As Janusz Parchimowicz emphasizes, “the king was very keen for the largest coin to be beautiful and to fully reflect the dignity of royal majesty.”
This is an important issue with a rich history; its creation was preceded by a competition featuring a series of trial strikes, resulting in dies crafted by the era’s preeminent medalist—Jan Filip Hollzhaeuser. You can read about their history on the SAP Silver Coins blog, among other sources. The “armored figure” itself is a design type used for only one year. The richly detailed, almost medal-like royal portrait proved too time-consuming for circulation coins, and as early as the following year, it was replaced with a bust of Stanisław August alone.
A variant with a period after “COLONIEN,” without periods after the date and the initials of Fryderyk Sylm.
A variant with a single leaf next to the first digit of the date, classified as R3 in rarity.
