Ducat, 1670, Gdansk; date pierced 1669; Av: Pop...

City of Danzig, Ducat, 1670, Danzig; date pierced 1669; Av: Bust of the King to the right, MICHAEL D G REX POL M D L RUS PRUS; Rw: Great Coat of Arms of the City of Danzig, below the letters D - L (initials of Daniel Lesse, tenant of the mint) and Lewart in oval, MON AUREA CIVITAT GEDANENS; Chelminski 943, CNG 364.I, Fr. 32, Frankiewicz 739, H-Cz. 2368 (R3), Kaleniecki s. 455, Kop. 7679 (R6), Kubicki 1484, Kurp. (1649-1696) 1134 (R5), Tyszkiewicz 45 mk; gold, 3.44 g; slightly bent, nicely preserved, rare coin type.
Elected in 1669 as the candidate of the multitude of nobles, the son of Jeremy Wisniowiecki, Mikhail Korybut, had to contend with strong opposition from the very beginning. The so-called "malcontents," led by Primate Mikolaj Prazmowski and Grand Hetman of the Crown Jan Sobieski (the future king), first tried to prevent the coronation, and then planned to dethrone the monarch. The king struggled with the malcontents' camp almost until the end of his reign. The conflict almost led to civil war, when in 1672 the feuding parties formed the Golab Confederation, loyal to the ruler, and the Szczebrzeszyn Confederation, which sought to overthrow the king. Reconciliation did not occur until the spring of 1673 at the Pacification Sejm. Shortly thereafter, on November 10, during another expedition against Turkey, the king died of stomach poisoning.
This short reign was not groundbreaking in terms of monetary policy. Although there were some voices that good coins should be introduced and the boratines and tymphs, hated by the public, which flooded the country, should be withdrawn (the intention was to at least partially remedy the monetary anarchy found after John Casimir), nothing was successfully implemented. Crown mints did not work during the Korybut era; only in 1671 a mint in Bydgoszcz was briefly launched. Mints in Prussia were active, however: in Torun, Elblag and Gdansk.