Półtorak / 3 Polker - Sigismund III Vasa Bydgoszcz mint

The półtorak — literally "one and a half" groszy — was introduced under Sigismund III as a pragmatic response to chronic small-change shortages plaguing the Commonwealth's markets. By 1621, the Bydgoszcz mint was striking these at an extraordinary pace, and the sheer volume produced that year is reflected in the survival rate: worn, clipped, and corroded examples vastly outnumber intact ones. The .700 fineness was itself a reduction from earlier standards, a quiet debasement that merchants noticed almost immediately.

Górecki's B.21 designation isolates a specific die pairing within a notoriously complex series of varieties from this mint and year.