Dukat koronny - Stanisław August Poniatowski Warszawa mint

This dukat dates to the opening year of Poniatowski's reign — a reign he owed entirely to Catherine the Great, who had him placed on the Polish throne through a combination of bribery and military intimidation. The Warsaw mint had been dormant for years before being reactivated to supply the new king's coinage, and early production in 1765 was organizationally troubled enough that multiple die pairings circulated simultaneously, which accounts for the cluster of Kopicki references covering this single year.