Commemorative guilder

A specific abundance of commemorative issues marked the reign of Duke Philip II (1606-1618). The ruler's love for art translated into a passion for collecting coins and designing new ones. The series of guilders created towards the end of his reign (1614-1618) reflect the events and political situation of the time and the ideology of Philip II's reign. Symbols and allegories on reverses, treated on a par with the coat of arms, allude to the ruler's great responsibility, the subordination of life to the duty to rule. The ruler undoubtedly inspired the coins; some of them were probably designed by him. In terms of content, the presented guilder refers to the ideology of ruling the state (the so-called Regierungskunst). The composition consisting of two elements - a sword and a feather is accompanied by a sentence in German. The design of the painting was created by the Duke to the favourite saying of his mother, Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg, alles zu seiner zeit, at the time of the growing threat from rebellious Polish troops in Gdańsk Pomerania. The situation forced Philip II to issue an order to form a detachment of 200 musketeers to guard the eastern border of the Duchy. Despite the peaceful aims, the nobility protested excessive spending and hiring the army without the consent of the states. The issuing of guilders served to show Philip's most important attributes as a warrior and defender of the state and lawmaker. The insignia function of the sword was intended to symbolise every aspect of power derived from God, and supplemented by the pen was associated with writing. The guilder is not signed, but its high artistic quality points to the Augsburg goldsmith, Daniel Sailer, employed by the Szczecin mint to produce stamps. The museum specimen comes from a German collector, Helmut Hahn's Pomeranian collection, auctioned in its entirety in Berlin in 2013.

Genowefa Horoszko