Rare medal struck to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Oliva in 1660, engraved by Johann Höhn the Elder, with his initials visible on the truncation of the king’s bust.
This particular specimen comes with an outstanding provenance – from the renowned Potocki collection, marked with their ownership punch beside the king’s portrait.
The Treaty of Oliva marked the end of the protracted and devastating Polish-Swedish War, known as the “Deluge.” Beginning in 1655, the war initially brought spectacular success for the Swedes, who captured Warsaw and Kraków, and won the temporary allegiance of much of the Polish nobility. However, the tide soon turned. Sweden’s alliances with Moscow, the Cossacks, the Tatars, and the Transylvanian prince George II Rákóczi quickly collapsed, while Poland gradually regained military momentum.
Uncirculated. Graded MS60 by NGC.
Obverse: bust of the king in a laurel wreath, facing right, on the cut of the arm IH
IOAN CASIM D G REX POL & SUEC M D L R P RUS
Reverse: panorama of Danzig, above which a crowned Eagle with a wreath in its beak, in the section a palm and olive branch
PAX AETERNA AD GEDAN ACIƆIƆCLX III MAJI CONDITA
Diameter 42 mm
