Extremely rare boratine in extremely rare state of preservation.
Variety with a Roman numeral in the date, in Cezary Wolski's catalog "Copper sherds of Jan Kazimierz Vasa from 1659-1667" marked with the degree of rarity R8, which means 2-3 pieces known to the author.
Piece illustrated in Wolski's catalog on page 373 under item LU61.D.11b.12.
We have no doubt that the coin was minted, while the care of the minting leads us to assume that this was a showpiece, low-volume issue.
The only piece with the highest grade in the NGC registry.
An item of the same variety in the lower MS64 note, it was sold in May 2022 at Heritage auction for $6,500.
A phenomenal coin of incredible beauty.
Superb detail and fully mint surface.
A specimen piece in the full sense of the word.
Obverse: small head of the king, below initials T.L.B.
IOAN CAS REX
Reverse: the Pogo under the duke's mitre, below the Corvinus coat of arms
SOLI MAG DVC LIT 1661
The author of the catalog "Copper sherds of Jan Kazimierz Vasa from the years 1659-1667" Mr. Cezary Wolski wrote in the pages of TPZN regarding the originality of the presented item as follows: "The punches of the stamp are copied from the half-dukates of Cracow of this vintage. They do not have to be strictly identical, because even on the shellac coins from Cracow, despite the apparent sameness of the punches of heads or Eagles, there are very slight differences - the question of experience in reaching and organoleptically examining a large number of boratines is at issue here. The same applies to Ujazdow coins minted in the Cracow manner - they were created AFTER the delivery of the Cracow pattern, and the Roman 1 could not appear on a coin not made by the Cracow engraver, who in this way, perhaps, in a way, put his signature on the coin, which for the craftsmen, so to speak, of the "German engraving manner" was not unusual at that time.
Both coins in beautiful condition also (unless the photos distort) have slight differences in the thickness of the dots, letters, etc. On one of them you can clearly see traces of the previous acquisition of thin letters on the stamp in order to place the inscription correctly, which on ordinary coins happens very rarely, but it does happen.
My opinion is currently in favor of recognizing these coins as originals. Whether this will be approved by collectors or not - I leave to them alone."
The Lithuanian copper shekels of John Casimir were minted at several mints: in Ujazdów, Oliva, Vilnius, Brest, Kaunas and Malbork. The 1661 yearbook narrows this circle to just one establishment - the Ujazdów mint. The uniqueness of our item lies in the fact that it has the characteristics of a stamp... of Cracow. In Cracow, let's recall, only crown shekels were minted. Why, then, can we see on the Lithuanian shekel a portrait, lettering and even an easily recognizable date notation with the first three Arabic numerals and the fourth Roman numeral characteristic of the Kraków mint? Of the several hypotheses explaining this phenomenon, the one that strikes us most convincingly is that an engraver from Kraków, at the behest of the management, assisted the overburdened Ujazdów mint by making stamps for the production of the shekel in question (as we recall, both the Kraków and Ujazdów mints were under the management of Titus Livius Boratini). Mr. Zdzislaw Szuplewski noted that this was the first time that the stamps of both obverse and reverse were made at one mint for another.
For many years it seemed that the most beautiful boratine in existence was the coin presented in the catalog of C. Wolski under the number LU61.D.11b.12. A few weeks ago, an unusual piece with the number MS64 on the slab appeared at Heritage Auctions. It was auctioned for $7,800. The coin in our X Auction is a piece from the catalog of C. Wolski. It was graded at MS65. In general, such differences are practically imperceptible. This time, however, it is clear that our item is nicer. Let's take a look especially at the coin's field on the reverse.
