Półtalar gdański - Władysław IV Waza Gdańsk mint

The półtalar — literally a half-thaler — was struck at Gdańsk under a long-standing municipal minting privilege that the city jealously guarded throughout the seventeenth century. Gdańsk operated with considerable autonomy within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and its mint answered to city council interests as much as royal ones. Władysław IV's reign saw ongoing friction over just how independently the city could conduct its monetary affairs.

The Kop references here span five distinct die combinations across seven years, reflecting the mint's active output during a period when Gdańsk's Baltic trade made hard silver coinage a practical daily necessity rather than a prestige issue.