A Lvov orth from a rare wartime issue.
Coin in uneven patina, but very nicely struck. Minor imperfections on the relief of the portrait, but very good state of preservation.
Variety with a wider portrait of the king, with a cross on the king's collar.
Eagles on the reverse of the first type.
Variant with titulature ending in PRYS.
The history of this issue begins after the heroic defense of Lviv against the besieging Moscow and Cossack armies. At a time when other cities of the Crown were falling under the onslaught of the Swedes, it was victorious Lviv that became the destination of King Jan Kazimierz. Having reached the city in February, he issued a universal decree ordering the opening of a mint as early as March 1, 1656, out of the need to pay the troops. The silver for the issuance of coins (orts and sixpences) was obtained from seized silver from church treasuries, beginning the minting of coins on May 15 and ending just 37 weeks later!
The coins minted at the time are characterized by poor workmanship, which is typical of wartime issues. The workshop organized in Lviv did not employ mincemasters, but city craftsmen. Coins were minted using the old method, stamps were cut by hand, in a hurry, hence their great variety. These factors translated into rather poor legibility and poor state of preservation of the pieces circulating in the trade. Usually these coins are severely deficient, crookedly minted or with doubled minting, produced from defective sheet metal.
