1599, Poland, Sigismund III Vasa. Silver 6 Groszy Coin
Mint Year: 1599 Reference: Kopicki 1246 (R1!). Denomination: 6 Groszy (Szostak) Mint Place: Marienburg (Malborg) Mint Masters: Gonzalo & Gobelius (privy marks: Diamond-Ring / Triangle/Delta) Weight: ca. 4.5gm Diameter: 28mm Material: Silver
Obverse: Draped and crowned (small) bust of Sigismund III Vasa with large collar right. Legend: . SIGISMVN . III . D : G (shield w. lion) REX . PO . M . D . L .
Reverse: Crown above denomination numeral (VI) and three shields of Poland, Lithuania and the House of Vasa. Comment: Privy marks of the mint masters (diamond-rign & triangle) below. Legend: GROS . ARGEN . SEX . REG . POLONI . 99 .
Founded in the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights, the town is noted for its Gothic Marienburg Castle, one of the most striking in Europe. When during the Thirteen Years' War the castle was pawned to imperial Bohemian soldiers, who sold it to the King of Poland in 1457. Then the Teutonic Knights left the castle. The town of Marienburg under Mayor Bartholomäus Blume and others resisted the Poles for three further years. When the Poles finally took control, Blume was hanged and quartered, and fourteen officers and three knights with retainers were thrown into dungeons, where they met a miserable end.. A monument to Blume was erected in 1864.
Sigismund III Vasa (Polish: Zygmunt III Waza) (20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Polish Crown, a monarch of joined Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden (where he was known simply as Sigismund) from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599. He was the son of King John III of Sweden and his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland. He was the last ruler of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth bearing a dynastical blood of House of Gediminas and a branch of it Jagiellons, although from female line. Elected to the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sigismund sought to create a personal union between the Commonwealth and Sweden (Polish-Swedish union), and succeeded for a time in 1592. After he had been deposed in 1595 from the Swedish throne by his uncle, Charles IX of Sweden and a meeting of the Riksens ständer (Swedish Riksdag), he spent much of the rest of his life attempting to reclaim it. Sigismund remains a highly controversial figure in Poland. His long reign coincidenced with the apex of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s prestige, power and economic influence. On the other hand, it was also during his reign that the symptoms of decline that led to the Commonwealth’s future demise surfaced. Common views, influenced by popular books of Pawel Jasienica, tend to present Sigismund as the main factor responsible for initiating these negative processes, while academic historians usually are not that condemning. However, the question whether the Commonwealth’s decline was caused by Sigismund’s own decisions or its roots were in historical processes beyond his personal control, remains a highly debated topic. He was commemorated in Warsaw with Zygmunt’s Column, commissioned by his son and successor, Wladyslaw IV.