Thaler

During the reign of Sigismund III Vasa (1566-1632) minting flourished in Poland. Never before or later on the territory of the Republic of Poland there were so many mints making coins of various denominations. The reign of Sigismund III was not only a period of economic prosperity, but also the beginning of a monetary crisis, which led to the collapse of the Polish minting just half a century later. At the end of the 16th century silver became more expensive in Europe, significantly increasing the costs of minting, especially when minting petty coins. This resulted in making up for the looses at the expense of the quality of money minted. Low economic awareness of the Polish nobility resulted in the closure of all Crown mints, except for the Kraków one, in 1601 as a solution for the deteriorating quality of coins; however, the country soon began to run out of money. For this reason, the Bydgoszcz mint resumed its activities in 1613. After 1627, when the Polish Sejm passed a ban on minting small coins, the mint switched to minting half-thalers, thalers and coins worth more than one thaler. These thalers traditionally had the image of a ruler in armour and with the insignia of power facing right – this was the canonical depiction of the rulers in the German Reich during the Thirty Years' War. The edge had an inscription with the ruler's title, listing the honours and lands he ruled. This elaborate title was continued on the reverse, where it encircled the great escutcheon of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Poland enclosed in the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece. As Sigismund III had claim to the Swedish throne, which was also emphasised in the titles, the escutcheon of arms of the Kingdom of Sweden was placed on the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Poland. From 1620, thalers were minted in Bydgoszcz according to two standards: the so-called light thalers for export, mainly to Turkey, and heavy ones for domestic and European circulation.

Mieszko Pawłowski