Orty of Zygmunt III Vasa, part I

One of the most -collective coins of the royal Poland has become a coin with a quite unusual name for people starting their adventure with collecting, and how liked by more experienced numismatics, this is an orth. So where did this specific name come from and what is the story of this extraordinary denomination? I will try to bring you closer in this short article. Well, the name ORT comes from the German word "Orth", which in literal translation means a quarter, and in this case it is a quarter of a thaler, because this denomination had this coin originally. The first ORTY was minted for the state of Zygmunt III Vasa in 1608, in the city of Gdańsk, but they should be treated as preliminary emissions, today they are extremely rare coins that have not yet flowed to the numismatic market and it is not said that they will flow out in the near future. In 1609 Gdańsk decided to knock out this denomination on a larger scale, he was primarily to help buyers in making transactions, after all Gdańsk was one of the largest and richest European ports. The coin quickly adopted positively in Gdańsk itself, the Royal Prussia but also in the Crown provinces of the Commonwealth, and even in the Prince's Prussia. ORT turned out to be useful in merchant transactions, and the population liked him because of the high quality of the ore from which he was stamped, because the first orthoses were beaten from high to the then standards, the 14th lulvable sample of silver.

The Crown Mint in Bydgoszcz and the Prussian Mint, in Königsberg soon followed the Hanseatic city of Gdańsk. When the ortho (1608) the thaler value began to be beaten, the value of the orthus was 10 groszy, but a few years later due to great geographical discoveries, the ratio of silver to gold changed and thus for Talara you had to pay more pennies, in 1621 the ORT was already 16 groszy, as evidenced by the location of this nomine at some Bydgoszcz Ortach from this year. And during the reign of Jan Kazimierz, the Orta course was set at 18 groszy and it was no longer dependent on the Talara course, the ORT became an 18-graft. However, let me go back to Zygmunt III's orthoes before I go through his son. The history of these Gdańsk can be divided into three basic periods, the years 1608-1615, when they were beaten from high quality XIV-peak silver. Below is an example of an Orta from this period

The next period was the years 1615-1621, introducing orthos from the so-called A bust with a wide crisis in 1615 reduced the coins of these coins to XIII and 1/2 of Łutów. This period can be divided into two subhargements, a bust period with a characteristic wide crisis (1615-16), which in my opinion is the most beautiful and the most elaborate representation of the king at Gdańsk Ortes and the bust period with a narrow crisis (both busts are the work of a master of Gdańsk medals-Samuel Ammon). Below are beautiful examples of these coins. The most coins from this period were minted in 1618, because according to the documentation, over 5 million pieces, which shows the incredible popularity of this denomination.

The last period of breaking these, of course, during the reign of Zygmunt III Vasa is the period III, when the mint rate was significantly reduced, from XIII and 1/2 of Łuta to only XI Łutów, almost ten orthoses were made from the fine of silver than before. Coins from this period also look more by graphically, but it is still very good. Look for yourself.

This is how we briefly discussed the orthoses of Gdańsk's reign of Zygmunt III, let's get to the Crown (Bydgoszcz).

They were beaten in 1618-24, with the same, that those minted in 1618 and 1620 should be considered as preliminary emissions, and the mass beating was collapsed in 1621. They were made a little easier than the Gdańsk, but the half-pile of the king that appeared on them, and the extensive legend made a considerable impression, but in the end the orthos were already possible to manage relatively large discs (30mm in diameter). The emission of crown orthoses has been likely to be many millions of pieces, as evidenced by the multitude of varieties of these numismats. Below is a beautifully preserved Bydgoszcz Ort from 1621, probably the most plural in varieties.

Now I will mention briefly about Prussian feudal orthus, these were knocked out in 1621-26 (we are talking about Jerzy Wilhelm) in the mint in Königsberg and were initially beaten at the same foot as the crown coins, and then gradually deteriorate it. Their drawing was definitely inspired by crowning.

Ending the story of the orthoses of the era of Zygmunt III Vasa, let me mention their most sought after varieties or years, as well as recommend numismatic reading about these coins. As the anniversary of Gdańsk Ortherti, the most desirable are: of course 1608, but he will not be available quickly, 1609, as the first, beaten on a larger scale ORT, 1610 as a year -old with a small circulation and 1620, also relatively low. As for the varieties here, I could write a lot, but this is not my goal now, which is why I can give you a wise advice, in Ortach, especially Gdańsk, pay attention to everything, the nuances play a key role here, I will give examples: ort 1618 with a decorator in the form of a maple leaf at the date, or an ORT 1615 with an ornament starting the legend of the inspiration repeated on the reverse. As for the Bydgoszcz Orthus, the year 1620 is very rare and desirable, and in the next year interesting varieties is a mult Reverse, do they take the forms of bows or palm leaves, do they at all. Below is a photo of a very rare 1622 Orta without ornaments in the crown from my collection.

That's all about rarer orthos and varieties, I just wanted to gently outline this topic.

Now I will go to the topic of numismatic literature, which contains a lot of necessary information for orthroilition collectors, these are two items of Mr. Marian Gumowski; Mint of Bydgoszcz and Gdańsk, both items briefly describe the activities of these mint through the entire history of their existence and at the same time bring closer and allow us to understand the history of this denomination, and as catalogs the catalog of ORTs by Mr. Igor Shatalin, in which you will find the vast majority of known varieties of the ortho of Zygmunt III, in addition to this catalog, I recommend the currently developing collector, Dariusz Pączkowski, in which you will also find most of the known varieties of ORTs, in this case the author pays more attention to the royal image on coins, so it's worth getting to know both of these positions. That's it about literature.

Below are photography of coins from the Gdańsk Mint of Marian Gumowski.

As it turned out, my plan for a short and concise text was in ruins. I finished discussing only orthos from the reign of Zygmunt III Vasa ... so there will probably be a series, the first part of which I will allow myself to end.

Thank you for reading, Wojciech Opioła.

Sources:

Mint of Bydgoszcz, M.Gumowski

Mint of Gdańsk, M.Gumowski

Numismatic columns, 2006-21, Jerzy Chałupski