The first Gdansk half-taler of King Wladyslaw IV!
A coin of great rarity occurring in trade only once every dozen years or so!
Semi-talars from the reign of Wladyslaw are a denomination minted sporadically, in low mintages, regardless of the mint. Typologically, it is clearly more difficult to obtain than the thalers of this ruler.
In the archives of Polish companies, we find only 1 1639 half-taler over several decades of quotations (WCN 40/389 from 2009 (!) sold for 52,800 zlotys, earlier WCN 21). No listings in the Niemczyk archive or the international Coinarchives database. In the Corpus Nummorum Gedanensis illustrated with a semi-tallar with a pendant mark.
The present piece also with a clear pendant mark at the top of the obverse and a scratch in the background. In old patina.
The first royal half-talar of the Danzig mint!
Silver, diameter 34.6 mm, weight 14.17 g.
Obverse: bust wearing a crown and armor covered with a cloak, with the Order of the Golden Fleece, to the right. In the rim:
VLAD IIII D G REX POL & SVEC M D LITV RUSS PRUS
Reverse: the coat of arms of the city in an oval cartouche, supported by two lions, above a console with the date, under a laurel wreath with palm and laurel branches inside. At the legs of the lions the initials of the mintmaster (GR). In the rim:
COIN ARGENTEA CIVITATIS GEDANENSIS.
