DWOJAK: COIN OF POLISH-LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH
Dwojak (dwugrosz koronny / półzłotek), 1766: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Ruler: Stanisław August Poniatowski (Stanislaus II Augustus) — King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
2. GR. CLX. EX MARCA PURA. COL.: 2 grosz. 160th part /Latin number "CLX" = "160"/ of a pure Cologne mark (weight unit of mass of precious metals in Europe at the time).
Warsaw Mint: mintmaster's mark "FS" (Friedrich Wilhelm Sylm).
STANISLAUS AUG. D. G. REX POL. M. D. L.: Stanislaw August, by God's grace, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania.
Coat of arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the time of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski: crown, wreath, two eagles as a symbol of Poland and two knights as a symbol of Lithuania; in the center — a bull calf (Polish "Ciołek"; the ruler’s family coat of arms).
Mintage: 8.425.000.
- Silver (0.587): 24 мм - 2.9 g
- Reference price: 7.6$
COIN DWOJAK — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- POLISH-LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH (1766-1786): dwojak = 2 grosze
DWOJAK as coin name.
Dwojak (dwugrosz, półzłotek) — Polish low grade silver coin of the value of 2 grosze from the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th and 18th centuries. Formally, any Polish coin with the denomination "2 Grosze" could be called this way. However, among numismatists, only specimens of the specified period (or even only the 18th century) are called dwojak.
According to some sources, the appearance of dwojak is associated with the second half of the 16th century. We are talking about the Lithuanian 2 grosze of 1565 Sigismund II Augustus (Lithuanian grosz is sometimes also called grašis or groat). However, whether to consider this coin exactly a dwojak is a big question...
Be that as it may, the following position is most often encountered (with which I personally agree): dwojak is a Polish silver coin of 1766-1786. Its weight did not even reach 3.5 grams; minted at the Warsaw Mint. It contained a portrait of Stanislav August Poniatovsky. The intensity of dwojak emission in the mentioned 20-year period fluctuated significantly: in 1768, the coin was not produced at all, sometimes the circulation was several thousand pieces, but in 1766, a record issue was made — almost 8.5 million copies.
An interesting feature of the 1766-1786 dwojak is the indication of the silver content of the coin in the format CLX EX MARCA PURA COL: 160th part (Latin numeral CLX = 160) of a pure Cologne mark. The Cologne mark is a historical unit of measurement of the mass of precious metals in European countries; its weight was 233.856 g.
The name of the coin dwojak obviously speaks for itself: two grosze (by analogy with other denominations — poltorak, trojak, czworak, szostak). Foreign sources often call the coin półzłotek, that is, half a zloty (at that time, a zloty was 4 silver or 30 copper grosz).
