Ort / 18 Groszy - Jan III Sobieski Bydgoszcz mint

Jan III Sobieski's reign produced some of the most chaotic monetary conditions in Commonwealth history. The ort denomination — a quarter thaler by value — had been debased so aggressively by his predecessors that Sobieski's early issues attempted a partial rehabilitation of silver content, though the effort was inconsistent across mints and years. Bydgoszcz, operating under lease to private contractors during much of this period, was particularly prone to variation in alloy and striking quality, which explains the sprawl of five Kopicki references covering what is nominally a single type.

The 1677–1686 production window spans the years immediately following the relief of Vienna — Sobieski's most famous military achievement — when the king's political authority was arguably at its peak yet royal finances remained perpetually strained by ongoing Ottoman conflicts.