Kingdom Of Poland Coins By Century (963 - 1586)

I'll start us off by posting my earliest Polish grosz/groat/groschen/gros.

Upthread the rare Casimir III Krakow groat was mentioned, and Alexander also minted a groat in Vilnius which is rated RRR in Gumowski. The first affordable groats minted in Poland were those issued by Zygmunt the Old in the late 1520s (starting 1526).
Bad news: they are still crown-and-eagle type.
Good news: more interesting design than the crown and eagle designs of the last 150 years. Nice size (about 24 mm like a US quarter) And not terribly expensive.
By the early 1530s, the striking of groats in Krakow had ceased, but a new type bearing a renaissance portrait of the king was being struck in Gdansk/Danzig and Torun. I think we will see a few of these in the next week.

I have this 1527 grosz attributed as Kopicki 417.
Obv: Crown and inscription. SIGISMUND/PRIM*REX/POLONIE
Rev: Eagle. MONETA REGNI POLONIE 1527

The beauties keep coming, and excellent thread.

great coins tdziemia

One more, and then I'll sit on the sidelines for a while.

So, it's time for Zygmunt to get his bangs trimmed, he goes to Stanislawa's Beauty Salon, and gets comfy in his favorite chair. Stasia gives him a nice welcome, then as humbly as possible lets him know that everyone's making jokes about his hair, so, maybe it's time to try something new. Maybe a bit shorter, something that looks good under a little hat ...
He goes along with her suggestion, and whaddaya know:


Same year, same mint, new portrait, with a hat under the crown. (Kopicki 3090).

The engraver(s) at Gdansk would use the older portrait for another few years.

Here are a few early examples of mine from this week's time period: Half-Groschens from Poland dated 1507, 1508, and 1508 AD (attributed as Kopicki 407, 408, and 409, respectively):

Hmm my coin dated 1506 AD is from Bavaria, so it isn't me.

Ok well while we wait for @giedrius to cross-post his Groschen, here are a couple more Half Groschen from Poland dated 1510 and 1511 AD and attributed as Kopicki 411 and 413, respectively.

I'm not sure if anyone else is actively buying Polish coins, but this will be a different kind of post.

As a direct result of my involvement with CCF, I began expanding my Polish collection this year. Most of my Polish coins purchases 1998-2017 had come from one European auction house (Elsen), one U.S. specialist in central Europe (Karl Stephens), and a smattering of other sources.

Now, I am checking out a variety of other European auctions, and have been surprised to see how many early Polish coins are slabbed. And it's not just rare high value coins, but even 1/2 grosz coins that often sell for $75 or less (sometimes a lot less). By chance, I found myself on the NGC census recently, and was only mildly surprised to see these statistics that rank the number of certified coins by country for Europe (I use the term loosely, and hope our UK friends won;t be offended):
1. UK 263,125
2. Russia 158,358
3. Poland 90,362

That would have shocked me if I weren't already expecting it.

It led me, of course, to wonder: who and why?