Podskarbiówki i liczmany Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów i z Rzeczpospolitą powiązane
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Abiejų Tautų Respublika (ATR; Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów; Žečpospolita; Sandrauga; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth); Lietuvos istorija; Pinigai; Kalykla; Žetonai; Katalogas; The Lithuanian history; Money; The Mint; Tokens; Catalog.
ENIn recent decades on numismatic market appeared many unnoted so far copies of je tons1. Hence it was necessary to make a new, full study of this subject as well as to determine actual quantities and varieties of jetons found in museums and private collections. Skimpy and in fact lack of archival materials, which makes inventory difficult, difficulties in reaching foreign collections as well as complicated determination of location of jetons in Polish collections, forced me to make many long research. Over a hundred years have passed since the last monograph of jetons Liczmany mennicze zwane podskarbiówkami by Bolesław Demel. As it was previously mentioned, many new jetons and their varieties appeared since that time. Also many erroneous data regarding these jetons appeared in the literature. This study aims to arrange existing varieties and their quantities as well as to verify authenticity of some jetons. Transparency of the study as well as necessity to classify these items, which were used by 34 officials, required to divide jetons into groups. Basic group includes treasury jetons (podksarbiówki), from which we can separate royal treasury jetons with a king's name and used by royal treasurer as well as treasury jetons of officials managing a state treasury - the Crown or Lithuanian treasurers, clerks, mint masters, administrators and tenants of mints. For other issuers - secular and clerical - who use jetons in their estates I assigned the term jeton (liczman). I count among jetons also 21 items struck outside Poland but with Poland associated. Despite these are often royal issues, they cannot be counted among treasury jetons (podskarbiówki), because were not intended to use by treasury officials. The study concerns items related directly with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as well as issued by persons or in territories historically associated with the Commonwealth.The first issuer of treasury jetons was Jan Lutomirski coat of arms Jastrzębiec, whose name can be found on 23 pieces with dates 1540, 1551, 1554. There are five die varieties, including three varieties of Rx rarity - Nos. 1, 3 and 4. The most controversial is treasury jeton with date 1540. There are arguments in the literature about place of issue of this jeton. Due to the fact that the Vilnius mint, later administered by Lutomirski, was launched by the king Sigismund II August only in October 1545, the jeton could not be struck there with such date of issue. Until the middle of 1546 the king administered the Vilnius mint through his ducal council and Lithuanian district treasurer Iwan Homostaj. Only since the middle of 1546 the king handed over a supervision over the mint to the Lithuanian court and the royal treasurer Jan Lutomirski. He already had a lot of experience in the field of treasury: in 1531 he was a scribe of the Crown treasurer M. Szydłowiecki, in 1532 a scribe of the Crown treasury, and also for five months of this year he was the actual Crown treasurer - replacing an absent treasurer Spytko Tarnowski and administering the treasure of the Crown. In 1536 he became a royal courtier and in 1543 a burgrave of the royal castle. Already in 1544 he was promoted to court treasurer of the king Sigismund II Augustus, organizing in 1546-1548 the coin circulation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and withdrawing from the circulation poor quality coins of Świdnica. Serving these important offices already since 1531 testifies about enormous trust, which was placed in him by the king. The treasury jeton of 1540 with a title of the royal treasurer could not be connected with his later office of the court treasurer at the court of Vilnius, but rather with performed already in 1532 actual function of the Crown treasurer and numerous other treasury offices.The issue of this treasury jeton could not be dated to 1540, because the Vilnius mint was closed and die engravers came to Vilnius only at the end of 1546 and a purchase of the house where the mint supposed to be located was ordered by the king to Homostaj in the second half of 1545! For these reasons I assume, that this treasury jeton was not struck in Vilnius, as some authors claim, but rather in Cracow, where Lutomierski held many offices and where until 1562 he was a burgrave of the Cracow castle. Exactly from Cracow to Vilnius travelled Jakub Decjusz with a mint staff in 1545 to organize the Vilnius mint. The treasury jeton is not typical for later Vilnius issues - it is struck in silver with rich Renaissance ornaments. We can consider it as a special gift of Cracow minters for a scribe of the Crown treasury and the actual Crown treasurer, who linked up with the Vilnius court of the young king and leaving the Cracow one. Describing in his catalogue treasury jeton with the date 1540 Hutten-Czapski had well - preserved specimen, probably marked with his punch. Specimen described here is struck with moved die without punch. The other four varieties of treasury jetons of Jan Lutomirski differ in interword marks in legends, details in an effigy of the coat of arms and dates of issue. Jetons on Stanisław Miloszowski coat of arms Kościesza are made of copper by one pair of dies; eight pieces from 1555 are known. Jeton of Jan Tarnowski coat of arms Leliwa with the date 15-27 and coat of arms Odrowąż on the reverse also with date 1527 is known as a single copy struck in copper and located in the National Museum in Cracow. Jetons of Jan Hozjusz, own coat of arms. Five specimens are known, made in two varieties differ in shape of the coat of arms and struck in copper in 1559, including No. 8 - a single, different die known from a description and therefore of Rx rarity. [...]. [From the publication]
