Silver Depreciation in 3-Polker Coins Issued during 1619–1627 by Sigismund III Vasa King of Poland

Abstract

The present research is focused on the 3-Polker coins issued during 1619–1627 by Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland. A major financial crisis took place at that time due to the 30-year War, which started in 1619. There are two theories among historians concerning the silver depreciation of these coins. The most common theory (generally accepted without proof) is that the later years of issue are depreciated below 60% Ag. The second theory is based on the medieval sources that indicate inflation during the years from 1621–1625, but the medieval source only refers to the inflation of the type of coins and does not mention the issuer. Therefore, in this study, we use modern investigation techniques and materials science methods to help historians elucidate the aforementioned aspects regarding the medieval period. The XRD investigation results are in good agreement with the SEM-EDX elemental analysis. The coins from 1619 and 1620 have high silver content, namely, 86.97% and 92.49%, which corresponds to good silver. The amount of Ag found in the coins from 1621–1625 issituated in the range of 63.2–74.6%. The silver titleis suddenly restored in 1626 at about 84.3% and is kept in a good range until the end of this decree under Sigismund III in 1627. In conclusion, the second theory was partly validated by our experimental results, certifying the currency depreciation during 1621–1625, but the silver title was not lower than 54.2%. Notably, even this depreciated silver title assures a good quality of the 3-Polker coins compared to similar coins issued in other countries that were copper–silver-plated. Therefore, the 3-Polker coins were preferably hoarded at that time.Small alterations in the mint mark’s design were observed in all the depreciated coins compared to the good ones. This might be a sign for an expert to identify the depreciated coins, a fact which requires supplementary investigations. The silver title’s restoration in 1626 also came with a complete change of the mintmark.