Guilder

Duke Philip Julius minted coins from 1609 in the mint established by his father Ernest Ludwig at the Franzburg Castle. The sovereign's minting activity was incompatible with the monetary law of the Reich as only one mint in Szczecin could work in the Pomeranian Duchy. The indebted Duke leased the mint, which opened the way to a massive issue of low-value small coins, contributing to monetary destabilisation and inflation (the period known as Kipper und Wipperzeit). The tenant, C. Rottermund, in addition to the small inflationary coinage, minted high denominations of silver - half-thalers, thalers and double thalers, as well as gold guilders. They all bore the ruler‘s bust and the dynastic coat of arms of the House of Griffin. Guldens are known only from two vintages, 1609 and 1611. They differ in the varieties of legends and the initials of the lessee. There is the Duke's bust in armour with a crest around the neck on the obverse, which was characteristic of the period. Despite the small size of the disc, the image was well worked out, preserving the natural facial features of the young ruler and the characteristic luxuriant hair. The royal titles in the DUX STETTIN rim emphasised Philip Julius’s aspirations for the Szczecin lands after the eventual atrophy of the Dukes of Szczecin. On the reverse of the guilders, the nine-field shield is accompanied by a biblical quotation reflecting the religious ideology of the state. The small profit from minting guilders (gold issues were subject to strict controls and had to adhere to standards) narrowed further minting production in Franzburg to traditional silver denominations. Gold coins served the needs of Philip Julius’s court. The museum piece comes from Professor Helmut Hahn’s Pomeranian collection, sold at auction in Berlin in 2013. Its previous owner was the pre-war collector Karl Ludwig Grabow, who put his Pomeranian collection up for auction in 1930.

Genowefa Horoszko