Ort gdański / 18 Groszy - Jan II Kazimierz Waza Gdańsk mint

The ort (18 groszy) was a denomination deeply entangled in the monetary politics of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where chronic shortages of quality silver coinage created persistent tension between the Crown and the cities licensed to mint. Gdańsk held a jealously guarded minting privilege and exercised it aggressively throughout Jan II Kazimierz's reign — producing orts across nearly two decades while royal mints struggled for consistent output.

The years bracketed by these Kop references coincide almost exactly with the Deluge: the Swedish invasion of 1655–60 that devastated much of the Commonwealth while Gdańsk, never taken, kept minting. Coins struck in 1655–1656 circulated into a country simultaneously occupied and economically convulsed.