 In 1794 , during the failed Kościuszko Uprising which led to the final partition of Poland a year later , Prussian troops captured Kraków . In the following year , on King Frederick William II 's orders , the treasure vault of the Wawel Castle was looted and the crown jewels taken to Breslau ( now Wrocław in Poland ) , then to Berlin , and finally to Königsberg ( now Kaliningrad in Russia ) . Between 1809 and 1811 most of the jewels were melted down , but some , including Szczerbiec , were put up for sale . The coronation sword was acquired by the future Russian minister of justice , Prince Dmitry Lobanov @-@ Rostovsky , who probably hoped to resell it to one of Polish aristocrats . In 1819 , he approached General Wincenty Krasiński , speaker of the Sejm ( parliament ) of the " Congress " Kingdom of Poland . The prince did not disclose the actual source of the sword and claimed to have bought it in Moscow from an Armenian merchant who had found the weapon somewhere between Belgrade and <unk> ( now Ruse in Bulgaria ) during the recent Russo – Turkish War . Krasiński , who was a known antique weapon collector , suspected it could be Szczerbiec , but asked Prof. Sebastiano Ciampi , a historian of the Warsaw University , for opinion . Ciampi examined the lithography Krasiński had had made of the sword , but was unsure whether it was the actual Szczerbiec . As a consequence , Krasiński declined Lobanov @-@ Rostovsky 's offer . 
