Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
6 Dukatów / Donatywa - Sigismund III Vasa Gdańsk mint
| Issuer | City of Danzig (Gdańsk) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1614 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Gold |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The arms of the City of Danzig occupy the centre of the reverse: a crowned oval cartouche bearing the city's distinctive double cross on a dotted ground, supported on either side by rampant lions holding the shield, with a further crowned heart-shaped escutcheon at the base and a large oak branch emerging at the top — all executed in vigorous high relief. The date 16-14 is divided across the lower portion of the cartouche composition. The entire heraldic achievement is enclosed within a beaded inner border, around which the circular Latin legend proclaims the city's proud commissioning of this donative in solid gold. The design reflects the accomplished engraving traditions of the Gdańsk mint and the civic pride of one of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's wealthiest port cities. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | 1614 |
| Additional information |
Donative coins — donatywy in Polish — were not currency in any functional sense. They were presentation pieces, struck in limited numbers as diplomatic gifts from the city of Gdańsk to the Polish king, typically delivered during royal visits or as expressions of loyalty from the wealthy merchant republic. Gdańsk enjoyed extraordinary autonomy within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and these elaborate gold multiples were part of how that autonomy was maintained — lavish flattery with a very specific political purpose.
The 1614 issue falls during a period of sustained tension between Sigismund III and the Protestant merchant elite of Gdańsk, making the gift's timing as much calculated diplomacy as ceremony.