Anhalt-Zerbst 1767 1/2 thaler
This specimen was lot 43 in Künker sale 400 (Berlin, February 2024), where it sold for €20,000 (about US$25,946 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"ANHALT-ZERBST, FÜRSTENTUM, Friedrich August, 1747-1793. 1/2 Konv.-Taler 1767, Zerbst. D · G · FRID · AUGUST · P · ANHALT · &C DOMIN · IEVERAE · Geharnischtes Brustbild r. mit umgelegter Feldbinde//DOMINI · GRATIA · SIT · NOBISCUM · Siebenfach behelmtes vierzehnfeldiges Wappen mit aufgelegtem zweigeteilten Wappenschild, gehalten von gekröntem Bären und Löwen, im Abschnitt in zwei Zeilen XX · E · F · M · S · F · A · Z · I · M · 1767 / AD · NORMAM · CONVENTIONIS. Von allergrößter Seltenheit. Kabinettstück. Prachtvolle Patina, Stempelglanz. Nach Stenzel sind nur vier Exemplare bekannt. (Germany, principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, Frederick August, 1747-93, half convention thaler of 1767, Zerbst mint. Obverse: armored bust right with sash; reverse: seven helmeted manifold arms with escutcheon supported by a crowned bear and a lion. Supremely rare, cabinet piece, outstanding patina, uncirculated. According to Stenzel, only four examples are known.)
Friedrich August besaß neben seiner Fürstenwürde von Anhalt-Zerbst auch die Herrschaft Jever. Als Graf Anton Günther von Oldenburg und Delmenhorst (1593-1667) kinderlos gestorben war und er seine Herrschaft unter seinen Verwandten aufgeteilt hatte, gelangte die Herrschaft Jever an den Sohn seiner Schwester Magdalene. Diese hatte Rudolf von Anhalt-Zerbst geheiratet und ihr Sohn Johann (1621-1667) erbte die Herrschaft Jever kurz vor seinem eigenen Tod. Trotz kurzzeitiger dänischer Besetzung blieb die Herrschaft Jever Besitz der Fürsten von Anhalt-Zerbst bis zu Friedrich August, dem Prägeherr dieses vorliegenden ½ Konventionstalers. Nach seinem Tod 1793 erbte seine Schwester Katharina II. Zarin von Rußland, die Herrschaft Jever. (In addition to his princely title of Anhalt-Zerbst, Friedrich August also was lord of Jever. When Count Anton Günther von Oldenburg and Delmenhorst (1593-1667) died childless and he divided his estate among his relatives, the lordship of Jever passed to the son of his sister Magdalene. She married Rudolf von Anhalt-Zerbst and their son Johann (1621-1667) inherited the lordship of Jever shortly before his own death. Despite a brief Danish occupation, the lordship of Jever remained the property of the Princes of Anhalt-Zerbst until Friedrich August, the issuer of this present half convention thaler. After his death in 1793, his sister Catherine II, Empress of Russia, inherited the Jever estate.)"
Thalers from eighteenth century Anhalt are very rare so collectors make do with minors. This rare type was struck 1767 only. Another gulden (KM 45.1) was struck in 1763 but it had the date in Roman numerals. This coin has the weight of a half thaler, not a gulden, which was only 12.1 grams. The dynastic affairs of this principality are very tangled. Wikipedia comments,
"In 1742 princes John Louis II and Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg inherited Anhalt-Zerbst. After Christian August's death in 1747, his widow Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp governed the country for her son Frederick Augustus until 1752. She had the new castle at Dornburg built as her thirds from 1750, a lavish baroque palace prepared to host her brother, Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden, or her daughter Sophie Auguste Fredericka, who in 1745 had married the Russian crown prince Peter III, to become empress in 1762, better known as Catherine the Great. However, neither of them ever visited her, and the dowager princess and her son were forced into exile when Prussian forces invaded Anhalt-Zerbst during the Seven Years' War in 1758. Frederick the Great, who had actually proposed the Russian marriage, accused the princess and her son of supporting Russia, then his war enemy. Johanna Elisabeth died in Paris in 1760 and her son, Frederick Augustus, never returned to Zerbst and continued to live in Basel and Luxemburg. Upon his death in 1793, the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst came to an end with its territory being divided among the Ascanian princes of Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Köthen, and Anhalt-Bernburg while Jever was inherited by his sister, Catherine the Great, and remained under Russian rule until 1818."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 14.03 g, 0.833 fine silver, this specimen 14.78 g.
Catalog reference: KM 45.2 (listed as ⅔ thaler), Mann 363 (listed as a gulden).
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 400: Selected löser of the Dukes of Guelph from the Friedrich Popken Collection | Numismatic treasures from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. "multiple portraits" from a Westphalian private collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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