The mint was founded during the rule of the dukes of the Ziębice and Oleśnica, of the Podiebrady dynasty. The founder of the dynasty Jerzy Podiebrad (1420 -1471), was the King of Czech. He gained for his sons the title of the Duke of Reich. The Emperor Frederick III Habsburg granted them also the Duchy of Ziębice and the Shire of Kłodzko to hold in fee. In 1502 the Emperor Maximillian granted them a privilege to mint coins. The grandsons of King Jerzy: Albrecht, Karol I and Jerzy moved the mint from Ząbkowice to Złoty Stok. At first it was located in the princely castle. The building of the new mint you can see in front of you. It was built by Duke Karol I between 1510 and 1520. In Zloty Stok the Podiebrads minted gold ducats and silver Groshen until the year 1569. Next, the new owners of Zloty Stok, the Czech magnates Wilhelm and Piotr Rozemberg, minted here gold ducats from 1582 to 1595. The last owners of the mint became the dukes of Brzeg and Legnica in 1599. They minted here gold ducats and Groshen, and silver thalers and Kreuzers until 1621.Now the coins can be seen in many museums and numismatic collections. They are often sold at numismatic auctions, too.
Gold ducats
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The mint and the castle in the drawing by Werner, from the mid-18th century.
Cogged presses for minting coins (single and double) from the museum in Krumlov (the Czech Republic).
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Silver coins
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THE MINT
In the mint in Złoty Stok gold ducats and Groshen,
and silver thalers and Kreuzers were minted. The following operations
made up the coin production cycle:
1. Preparing the disks for minting
the coins. The slabs, previously cast in the testing room, were blocked
out or expanded into sheets. Out of them the disks were cut. The disks
had to be exactly of the diameter and thickness of the ready coins.
2. Checking of the weight of
the disks. Each gold disk and the counted batch of silver disks were
weighed. Too light disks were rejected while those too heavy were
cut or filed.
3. Mechanical or chemical cleaning
of the disks. The gold disks were cleaned only in a mechanical way-
with brushes. The silver disks were "whitened" in special
baths in saline and wine lees solution.
4. Minting or stamping the coins
with appropriate punches.
5. Carving the punches used
for minting the coins.
The mint in drawings and paintings
from the 16th century.
