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Obv. the ruler mounted, spearing a dragon (not visible). Rev. horizontal legend: [ꝔЬІВЄЛ / ІКІ]И КНѦЅЬ / ВЛАДІϹЛАВ[Ъ] / [Ж]ІГІ[М]ОНͲ / [О]ΒІЧЪВССѦ / РѴСИ (‘Tsar and Grand Duke Wladislaus Zhigimontovich of All Rus’). Gold, 0.56 g, 11.6 mm. Grishin, Kleshchinov and Khramenkov 326 (rarity index V); Czapski 1733 (R5); Kopicki 10 545 (R6). The obverse with sharp details, the inscribed reverse with some weak areas. Kopeck dies were always larger than flans and since that specimens struck as a whole do not exist!. Grade II-, no traces of circulation, a small part of edge folded. First one needs to determine which country the coin origins from. Of course, not ‘Russia’, as collectors stubbornly write, because there was no country with such a name in the first half of the 17th century. Either in Poland or in the West, the names Muscovy or Moscow were used. However, since the rulers of this state used the term ‘of all Rus’ (thus expressing claims to half of the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), it can be precisely described as Muscovite Ruthenia. A similarly bizarre usurpation, not taken seriously abroad, was the use of the imperial title (tsesar' russkii) which was also applied to Wladislaus Zhigimontovich. Having overthrown Tsar Basil IV Shuiskii, the boyars in 1610 appointed the Polish prince Wladislaus Sigismund to the throne of Muscovy. King Sigismund III, guided by realism, did not support this idea, and he wanted to use the political crisis in Muscovy to regain border fortresses, captured by the Muscovites a hundred years earlier, primarily Smolensk. Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, like some of the elites of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, envisioned a Polish-Lithuanian-Muscovite federation, connected, among others, by common monetary system. So the king besieged Smolensk (conquered in 1611), and the hetman moved with a small detachment towards Moscow, which he took. The Sejm did not decide to firmly support the Polish-Lithuanian Kremlin crew, and the king did not agree to send his eldest son to Moscow for the coronation. In 1612, the starved crew capitulated, and then a large part of them were murdered. This episode was enough for — despite the scarcity of silver — a few silver kopecks with the name of Tsar Wladislaus Zhigimontovich to be minted in all three Muscovite mints: Moscow, Novgorod and Pskov. They were found also beyond the reach of the Polish-Lithuanian army. Gold kopecks were minted only in Moscow. Gold in Moscow was not a part of coinage; False Demerius I had earlier minted gold "ugorskie" and "portugals" (of a rather irregular weight) to be scattered among the crowd during the coronation of Empress Marina, and not for circulation. Circulating gold coins were minted only by Basil IV Shuiskii (tsar in the years 1606-1610) and the supporters of Tsar Wladislaus. They were needed to pay Western (‘German’, meaning various Germanic nations) mercenaries. To mint them for Wladislaus, hubs made for producing dies of silver kopecks were used, and as a raw material — gilding stripped from Moscow sacral buildings and goldsmiths' works, and even from the tsar's insignia and ceremonial horse tacks. Examination of the preserved specimens showed three weight standards: 0.68, 0.60 and 0.51 g (the average weight of all weighed specimens is 0.56 g, exactly as in the offered specimen). This is a unique opportunity to complete the collection with a well-preserved coin with a special history and historical significance. |
