Treasure of coins

The Choszczno treasure is the largest deposit of modern coins in the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin. Discovered by accident in 1969, while digging foundations, it was remarkably looted and destroyed. It was possible to salvage 3311 coins and a fragment of an earthenware vessel. The deposit consists of small coins, almost exclusively two-shillings, minted by the last Pomeranian dukes and the Swedish ruler Charles X Gustav. The chronological span of the group amounts to approximately one and a half centuries (the beginning of the 16th - the second half of the 17th century), but most of its components (over 70%) come from the period of the reign of Duke Bogislaw XIV (1620-1637) and King Charles X Gustav (1654-1660). The youngest coins were minted in 1660, allowing us to assume that the treasure was hidden then. The treasure contains an interesting group of countersigned coins, coming from the final phase of the robust monetary crisis, called Kipper und Wipper (sorting and picking heavier coins), which swept the German Reich in the early 17th century. Minor signs, i.e., coats of arms or monograms of towns, thus sanctioning their circulation in a given territory, were minted on devalued coins. A peculiar phenomenon noted in the deposit is a relatively large number of coins perforated and notched at the edges. It is generally assumed that it was related to magic and that the coins such treated served as amulets protecting against charms. It is noteworthy that the set reflects a foreign, Pomeranian local market. In this case, the location of Brandenburg's Choszczno on the border with West Pomerania, as well as the ongoing Second Northern War (1655-1660), may have influenced its structure. The value of the collected coins is the estimated remuneration for half a year's work of a trowel master at that time.

Genowefa Horoszko