Anhalt 1864-A 2-1/2 silbergroschen
The first specimen was lot 72264 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice Online Auction (Santa Ana, CA, May 2017), where it sold for $352.50. The catalog description[1] noted, "GERMANY. Anhalt-Bernburg. 2 1/2 Silbergroschen, 1864-A. NGC PROOF-63. Hard mirror fields with frosted devices. Lightly toned and quite attractive." The second specimen was lot 3358 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabrück, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €140 (about US$183 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[2] noted,
"ANHALT, ANHALT-DESSAU, FÜRSTENTUM, SEIT 1806 HERZOGTUM, Leopold Friedrich, 1817-1871. 2 1/2 Silbergroschen 1864. Selten in dieser Erhaltung. Polierte Platte. (Germany, duchy of Anhalt-Dessau, Leopold Frederick, 1817-71, 2½ silver groschen of 1864. Rare in this grade, proof.)"
This type was minted 1856, 1859-64 in substantial numbers as a joint coinage of Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg and Anhalt-Cothen and as such does not name any of the rulers thereof. Rendered obsolete by the coinage reform of 1871, it is today common.
Recorded mintage: 120,000.
Specification: 3.24 g, .375 fine silver, .039 troy oz ASW, the second specimen 3.22 g.
Catalog reference: KM-97, AKS 32; J. 70.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- [1]Ponterio, Rick, et al., The May 2017 Collector's Choice Sale, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2017.
- [2]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Catalog 335: Bracteates from Upper Swabia and the area of the Lake Constance | Coins and Medals from Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. the Dr. Karl Walter Bach Collection of coins of the Austrian nobility, Special collections of Bavaria, Lubeck, Wurttemberg as well as siege coins from the Eberhard Link Collection. Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2020.
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