A desire to learn more about the history of Gdańsk (Danzig) came to me last year during the New York coin show, where it was a privilege to see the impressive Polish medieval coinage from the Taraszka Collection auctioned by Stack’s Bowers and featuring some of the rarest and largest coins of this period. Recently, I had the opportunity to catalogue a small, beautiful and consistent Polish collection for Baldwin’s, and the coins of Danzig left a particular impression in their size and quality. Presented here is a snippet of the history of Poland and the city of Gdańsk (Danzig), which was a wildly successful trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Gdańsk became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1361, being an important trade and shipbuilding port. It was the largest city of Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries and Poland’s principal seaport. The name Gdańsk was used for the city in most Polish documents, while the name Danzig came to be used later
