Rare silver coin — lost more than 400 years ago — unearthed from Poland war cemetery

Moira Ritter
·1 min read
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During the Renaissance period, a resident or traveler crossing through northwestern Poland lost a silver coin along a road. For more than 400 years, the coin has stayed there — forgotten throughout the centuries.

That is until November, when experts were conducting a cleaning project in what is now a war cemetery in Kamień Pomorskie.

While in the cemetery, Bo kaene Stępniak spotted something — and unearthed the very rare coin, according to a Jan. 20 Facebook post from the Kamień Land History Museum.

One side of the coin depicted a bearded bust of Albrecht Hohenzollern.
One side of the coin depicted a bearded bust of Albrecht Hohenzollern.

Archaeologists said the silver coin depicts a bust of Albrecht Hohenzollern, the last Grand Master of the Order of the Hospital of the Blessed Virgin of the German House in Jerusalem between 1511 and 1525. Hohenzollern then served as the first duke of Prussia until his death in 1568.

The Order of the Hospital of the Blessed Virgin of the German House in Jerusalem, now known as the Teutonic Order, was a religious order that “played a major role in eastern Europe in the late Middle Ages,” according to Britannica. Hohenzollern dissolved the order in 1525.

The coin was likely lost during the 16th century in northwestern Poland, experts said.
The coin was likely lost during the 16th century in northwestern Poland, experts said.

The ancient 3-cent coin was minted in Königsberg, experts told Science in Poland (PAP), according to a Jan. 29 post. Königsberg was a German and Prussian medieval city. It is now the Russian city Kaliningrad.

Experts believe the coin was lost in the 16th century, Grzegorz Kurka, an archaeologist and the museum’s director of facility told PAP. It could have been lost by a resident or a visitor, but it was likely lost along an ancient road, he said.

The museum only has one other artifact similar to the coin, according to Kurka.

Officials said the coin is undergoing conservation and will be available for exhibition in the spring or summer.

Google Translate and Facebook were used to translate a Facebook post from the museum and a post from Science in Poland.

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