Basel 1533 batzen
This specimen was lot 4835 in Künker sale 406 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €8,000 (about US$10,497 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SCHWEIZ, BASEL, Stadt. Batzen 1533. Dickabschlag (Piedfort). + MONETA › NOVA › VRBIS › BASILIEN Basilisk zwischen der geteilten Jahreszahl 15 - 33// + DOMINE › CONSERVA › NOS › IN › PACE Adler, den Kopf nach l. gewandt. Von großer Seltenheit. Sehr schön. (Switzerland, canton of Basel, batzen of 1533, piedfort. obverse: a basilisk divides the date; reverse: eagle with head left. Extremely rare, very fine.)"
The batzen was four kreuzer. In the early sixteenth century, one thaler was sixty kreuzer, making the batzen equal to 1/15 thaler. This piedfort weighs nearly half a thaler; it is also round and fully struck, suggesting it was made for presentation.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 13,31 g.
Catalog reference: see HMZ 2-65 a.
- Richter, Juerg, and Ruedi Kunzmann, Neuer HMZ-Katalog, Band 2: Die Münzen der Schweiz und Liechtensteins 15//16. Jahrhundert bis Gegenwart, Regenstauf, Germany: H. Gietl Verlag GmbH, 2006.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 406: Gold Coins | Coins and Medals from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. Löwenstein-Wertheim | German Coins after 1871, a. o. Patterns from the Coenen Collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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