Treasures of Stanislaw August series debuts its last 2016 coin in this ongoing series.

The second and final release in the National Bank Of Poland’s beautiful Treasures of Stanislaw August series has debuted and depicts Alexander Jagiellon, the ruler of Poland from 1501 until his death in 1506. Each coin in this 24-coin series replicates a medallion struck by the Warsaw Mint between 1791 and 1798 under the order of the last king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanislaw August Poniatowski.

Starting in 2013, there are multiple releases each year, originally meant to be four, but down to just two for 2016. Each release is made available in both gold and silver, the former with a 600 mintage and the latter 6,000. Both weigh two ounces, so the gold isn’t a smaller version like that offered by many mints for affordability reasons, but a full-fat, empty your wallet sized beast.

Like the rest of the series, the design is essentially a floating portrait bust. Devoid of excessive inscription, these are a perfect tribute to the original masterworks. The obverse is all inscribed text, a very short biographical description of the subject, along with the date, denomination and description.

Available to order now, this is the eleventh coin to be released and there are to be two more releases in 2017. First up will be Sigismund the Elder in July, followed in December by Sigismund Augustus in December. Each coin is well boxed, the silver the same standard as the gold. We have a full Coin Series Profile of this range up where you can see all of the releases to date. Site sponsors Pela Coins have them up for purchase.

The eleventh coin of the series portrays Alexander, the fourth son of Casimir Jagiellon and Elisabeth of Austria. Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1492 and King of Poland from 1501. The Polish-Lithuanian personal union was restored upon Alexander’s coronation. The king was reproached for ineffective foreign policy, submission to the magnates and mismanagement of the royal estate and treasury.

The coin’s reverse depicts the king’s bust based on the medal, shown in profle facing lef (modelled on a painting by Marcello Bacciarelli). The king is wearing a beret with an ostrich feather; he is dressed in a fur coat and a cafan underneath, over which the king is wearing a chain with a pendant.

The coin’s obverse reads in translation (the text from the medal’s reverse is slightly abbreviated): Casimir’s fourth son, by whose orders Chancellor Łaski  consolidated and published the legislation. He died in Vilnius A.D. 1506 at the age of 45, in the 5th year of his reign, on 19 August.

Alexander, born in 1461, was placed on the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1492 according to his father’s will; his elder brother John Albert was then elected King of Poland, as a consequence of which the Polish-Lithuanian personal union was severed for 9 years. Afer Alexander’s ascension to the Polish throne in 1501, the union was reinstated under the act signed in Mielnik. As Grand Duke of Lithuania and then King of Poland, Alexander conducted unsuccessful wars over eastern territories of Lithuania, which were ultimately lost to the Grand Principality of Moscow in 1503. In 1495, he married Helena, a daughter of Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow. Alexander spent most of his time in Lithuania, delegating the rule of Poland to senators and his brother, Cardinal Frederick. The opposition of the nobility forced the king to limit the magnates’ rights and caused the Nihil novi constitution (“nothing new”, i.e. “nothing about us without us”) to be adopted by the Sejm at the sitting in Radom in 1505. The act granted dominance over the Senate and King to the nobility’s Chamber of Deputies. By that time Chancellor Łaski had
drawn up a collection of laws, statutes and privileges, known as Łaski’s Statutes, which were approved by the same Sejm. Alexander Jagiellon died without issue in Vilnius in 1506 and was buried in Vilnius Cathedral. Marta Męclewska