Austria 1516 1/4 guldiner
This specimen was lot 4651 in Künker sale 441 (Osnabrück, March 2026), where it sold for €22,000 (about US$30,266 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"RÖMISCH-DEUTSCHES REICH, Maximilian I., 1490-1519. 1/4 Guldiner 1516, St. Veit. Mit · MAXIMILIANVS : AVGVSTVS : IMPE : CAES · in der Vorderseitenumschrift und ARCHIDVX : KAR - INTHIE : M · D · XVI · in der Rückseitenumschrift. Von großer Seltenheit. Hübsche Patina, sehr schön. Aus der Sammlung Kommerzialrat Dr. Herbert Wenzel, Wien. Erworben 1958 von Günther Probszt, Graz (Liste 23, Nr. 1217). (Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian I, 1490-1519, quarter guldiner of 1516, St. Veit mint. Extremely rare, handsome patina, very fine.)"
Numista does not show this type but shows another from the Graz mint which has been gold plated. "Guldiner" was the original name of the large silver coin being struck in Austria and Bohemia in the early sixteenth century, which was soon renamed the thaler. The guldiner became the gulden, fixed at sixty kreuzer while the thaler rose to 72 kreuzer and then ninety kreuzer.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 7.45 g, silver, this specimen 7,26 g.
Catalog reference: Egg S. 192, 10 Anm. Variante.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Frühjahrs-Auktion 441: Orders and Decorations from the Estate of Wilhelm, Duke of Bavaria (1752–1837), among others | Coins and Medals from the Middle Ages and Modern times, particularly Denmark, Habsburg, Norway, and Saxony, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2026.
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