Medal of August III Reverse of Medal of August III

Although after the death of Augustus II the Strong (1733), by an overwhelming majority of votes the ‘Piast’ King, Stanisław Leszczyński was the elected king, in the end the throne of the Republic was won by his competitor, a foreigner, the son of the late monarch, the Elector of Saxony Frederick August II. He gained the crown thanks to the intervention of Russian troops, under cover of which his election was made, and Saxon troops, paving the way for the Elector to the Wawel Cathedral, where on 17 January 1734 he was crowned as August III (1733-1763). The event was commemorated, among others, with a striking medal by Henryk Paweł Groskurt (c. 1675-1751), the best medallist of the time working at the Saxon court in Dresden. On one side it shows the bust of the king in the right profile, wearing a wig and decorative armour with an ermine cloak over it. The figure of the King is described by the inscription placed around it, which translates as: ‘By God's Grace August III, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Prince and Elector of Saxony’. At the bottom is the author's signature: H.P.GROSKVRT. On the reverse side there is a scene of the coronation.

Reverse of Medal of August III