Extremely rare medal minted on the occasion of the coronation of John III Sobieski in 1676.
An item unlisted by Raczynski! In the Hutten-Czapski collection, of the four medals in the SIC MUNITA TUTIOR series, only this one was minted in silver. Czapski gave it a much higher degree of rarity (R5) than the other three, gold medals (R2).
A stronger recommendation is hard to come by.
Unsigned medal.
Piece from the famous Potocki collection with pilaf on the portrait side. Punca surprisingly heavily stamped.
Detail excellent, virtually uncirculated. The upper parts of the high relief superbly filled in. The background with spot cuts, on the obverse rubbed, but at the same time extremely intense, which makes the medal look excellent.
The intense mirror combined with the high relief and the extreme rarity of the offered medal leaves no doubt that this is the strongest offering in the 2nd Limited Auction. A spectacular and very rare numismatic piece.
Obverse: bust of the King in antique armor, clockwise, head in laurel wreath
IOAN III D G REX POL M D LIT R PR (Jan III by God's grace King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Rus, Prussia).
Reverse: Eagle flying towards the sun, with Sobieski's shield of arms on his chest
SIC MUNITA TUTIOR (Thus armed, it is safer).
Diameter 44 mm, weight 27.15 g
Edward Raczynski, in his "Cabinet of Polish Medals", writes about issues of the SIC MUNITA TUTIOR type as follows: "Judging by the allegory on the reverse side engraved, the medals placed here refer to the election of John III, about which we should talk to us in detail here.
Sobieski's victory at Chocim turned all eyes on the fortunate leader. The Convocation Seym was appointed for January 15; the Election Seym for April 20, 1674, at Sobieski's insistence that the new King himself should lead the army against the Turks; Sobieski supposedly had a secret intention, by this haste, to deprive the other Candidates of the time needed to unite their supporters.
Despite this great haste, many claimants to the Polish Crown came forward. The Pope in general advised the Catholic King. The Emperor recommended the Prince of Lorraine, which Queen Eleonora, widow of Michał Wiśniowiecki, and her Empress mother wanted so much that they offered Sobieski, as it was claimed at the time, a considerable sum of money for his help.
Francia desired the Polish Crown for Prince Najbursky, and even more for the son of the famous Prince Kondeus.
The Czar of Muscovy was thinking of a Polish Crown for one of his younger sons, but if the Poles did not like such a son, he insisted on Piast.
Prince Apaffy of Transylvania applied for the Polish Crown, pledging to join his duchy to Poland and 16,000 troops. His sacrifices seemed suspicious to the Poles, and since the Emperor was also against him, the Prince did not get many supporters.
Among the main candidates there were a few less important, such as: Count Thomas de Soissons, older brother of the later famous Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Dukes of Modena and Parma, the Duc de Vendome, the Duc de York, brother of the English King, the Duc de Orange, the Duc de Hanover and Don Juan, natural son of Philip III of Spain.
The Queen dowager and with her the Duke of Lorraine at first seemed to prevail over the others; after all, the protest of France against the choice of the Duke of Lorraine made many Polish lords cold to him, which was the reason that the Queen dowager was advised to give her hand to another contender, namely the young Duke of Najbursk, but she, permanently attached to the Duke of Lorraine, did not want to hear about it.
Alongside these parties, the national army with its Hetmans constituted a separate party, which was secretly led by Sobieski.
Pac, the Great Chancellor of Lithuania, had noticed Sobieski's intentions, and in order to resist them he proposed a law that no Piast should be elected. Pac's motion was rejected, and when the nobility gathered on the field of the election proceeded to vote, the Ruthenian province, at the instigation of its Voivode Stanislaw Jablonowski, proclaimed Sobieski King. The example of the Ruthenians was followed by Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and part of Lithuania. Only one Sobieski, standing in the ranks of the Rus nobility, gave his vote to the Prince de Condé. Although Pac, the Grand Chancellor of Lithuania, protested against Sobieski's election with a large Lithuanian post, but soon he too changed his mind, and so John III was proclaimed King on May 21, 1674.
The Polish eagle engraved on the reverse side of these medals, bearing on its chest the coat of arms of Janina Sobieska, supposedly indicates that under this sign Poland will rise more boldly towards the sun, that is, towards fame."
