Medal coining stamp

A very interesting souvenir preserved in the Wilanów collection and related to the memory of the first host of the Wilanów estate – King John III Sobieski (1629–1696). The stamp for coining the medal reverse was created in order to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna, which was celebrated very solemnly in 1883. The stamp has a cylindrical shape and a representation in a mirror image on the obverse side: the Janina coat of arms in a circle (on the cartouche topped with a royal crown, with an emblem – escutcheon placed in the field). On the surround limited by a thin line, there is an circumscription referring to the circumstances in which the medal was made: MEMENTO OF CELEBRATION OF THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF VIENNA ON 12TH SEPTEMBER 1883. On the base of the stamp, there is a signature: CHRISTLBAUER, which presumably corresponds to the Vienna manufacturer Joseph Christlbauer (1827–1897). Medals coined from stamps the reverse side of which is described here have survived. One of them is a part of the Wilanów collection of Varia (Wil.). On the obverse of the medal, John III Sobieski’s head is shown in left profile, in a laurel wreath on the head. The representation of the king is surrounded with the following circumscription: JOHN III SOBIESKI KING OF POLAND DEFENDER OF CHRISTIANITY 1683.

The medal coined on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Vienna victory is an example of one of the many artistic forms that emerged around 1883. One of the most famous forms is Jan Matejko’s painting John III Sobieski at Vienna, which was given by the artist to Pope Leon XIII as a ‘gift from the Polish nation’. Among various commemorative forms, numismats constituted a large group. Medals containing a reverse coined according to the iconography imprinted on the Wilanów stamp were coined by the Kraków craftsman Felicjan Wojtych, who ran his enterprise in Kraków from 1879 till the early 20th century. (S. Bauman, Kraków manufacturers and sellers of seals in the first half of the 20th century. Introduction to the subject area, in: ‘Krakowski Rocznik Archiwalny’, 2019).