Austria 1622 150 kreuzer KM-423
This specimen was lot 4721 in Künker sale 441 (Osnabrück, March 2026), where it sold for €650 (about US$894 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"RÖMISCH-DEUTSCHES REICH, Ferdinand II., 1592-1618-1637. Kippertaler (150 Kreuzer) 1622, Wien. Mit Münzzeichen Hahn (Münzmeister Andreas Händl). Herinek 635 a; Voglh. 163. R Fast sehr schön. Aus der Sammlung Kommerzialrat Dr. Herbert Wenzel, Wien. (Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand II, 1618-37, kipper thaler of 150 kreuzer of 1622, Vienna mint, with hen mintmark. Rare, about very fine.)"
The kipperzeit was a period (1619-24) when many princes of the empire reaped large profits by issuing debased and light weight coinage. Nowhere was this done more enthusiastically than in Bohemia, site of the early fighting of the Thirty Years War. Frederick V, the "Winter King" did it first, until his overthrow in 1620. Emperor Ferdinand II followed his example, tho he should have known better, by issuing this 150 kreuzer in 1622. In 1622, this denomination was struck in many styles, including KM 414 (Graz mint), KM 418 (Brünn mint, eagle reverse), KM 419 (Graz mint, plain inner circle), KM 420 (St. Veit or Klagenfurt), KM 422 (Graz mint, eagle reverse), KM 423 (shown here) and KM 424 (Vienna mint, klippe). This type was struck 1622-23 with several mintmarks, including the hen shown here.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 24 g, 0.320 fine silver, 41-42 mm diameter, this specimen 15,04 g.
Catalog reference: KM 423, Herinek 799 b; Halacka 851.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [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.
Links:
- Bohemia 1622 15 kreuzer KM-328 kipper, Prague mint
- 1622 48 kreuzer, kipper, Brünn mint
- 1622-BZ 48 kipper kreuzer, Olmütz mint
- Bohemia 1622 75 kreuzer KM-411 kipper issue of Ferdinand II, Brünn mint
- Bohemia 1622 75 kreuzer KM-298 kipper issue of Ferdinand II, Prague mint
- Bohemia 1622 150 kreuzer KM-308 "kipperthaler", Prague mint
- Bohemia 1622 150 kreuzer KM-309 "kipperthaler", Kuttenberg mint
- 1622 thaler, Klagenfurt mint
- 1622 thaler, Ensisheim mint, Ferdinand II
- 1622 thaler, Ensisheim mint, archduke Leopold V
- 1622 thaler, Hall mint, Leopold V
- 1622 thaler, Hall mint, Leopold V
- 1622/1 5 ducats, Vienna mint
- 1623 "kipperthaler", Graz mint
- Coins and currency dated 1622