Dwudukat gdański - Władysław IV Waza Gdańsk mint

Gdańsk held an unusual constitutional position within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — nominally subject to the Crown but governing its own mint with considerable autonomy, striking gold on its own civic authority rather than purely at royal command. The dwudukat was a local denomination almost never minted elsewhere in the Commonwealth, reflecting the city's Hanseatic commercial identity and its need for high-value specie suited to Baltic merchant transactions rather than domestic circulation.

Władysław IV died in May 1648, making 1647 issues from his reign among the last struck in his name. This piece predates the catastrophic Swedish wars by less than a decade.