Half-thalers from the Vasa era are significantly rarer than their full-value counterparts—the thalers. In Bydgoszcz, they were minted during two periods. The first, from 1620 to 1622, consisted of so-called “light half-thalers,” as they represented a value of not 1/2 thaler, but 1/2 Polish zloty. It wasn’t until 1628 that a change occurred. The mint, managed by Jacobson, began issuing coins equivalent to 1/2 of a Polish thaler. As Marian Gumowski points out, however: “The entrepreneur did not make much profit from minting half-thalers…,” attributing their current rarity to this fact.
The first year of minting Sigismund III’s “heavy” half-thalers.
A coin from the collection of Tadeusz Kałkowski, complete with its original envelope. Purchased by him for 55,000 zlotys, marked with a stamp (W) – valuable.
Very nice obverse. Smooth and lustrous, with only a pronounced scratch in the upper part. The reverse is noticeably weaker and corroded.
A variant featuring lily-shaped borders on the sides of the shield. With a cross in front of the jewel of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
A typologically sought-after, hard-to-find denomination.
Silver, diameter 35 mm, weight 13.16 g
