Bavaria 1657 1/9 thaler KM-294
This specimen was lot 3458 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabrück, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €650 (about US$851 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BAYERN, HERZOGTUM, SEIT 1623 KURFÜRSTENTUM, SEIT 1806 KÖNIGREICH: Ferdinand Maria, 1651-1679. 1/9 Taler 1657, München, auf das Vikariat. RR Sehr schön. (Germany, electorate of Bavaria, Ferdinand Maria, 1651-79, one-ninth thaler of 1657, Munich mint, for the Vicariat. Rare, very fine.)"
In 1657, emperor Ferdinand III died. While he was being buried and his successor Leopold I was elected and crowned, Ferdinand Maria was vicar of the empire, an office he shared with the elector of Saxony. We presume that the Hapsburgs saw to it that Ferdinand Maria's powers were purely ceremonial. This particular interregnum lasted 15 months and was the longest between the creation of the office by the Golden Bull and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1802. To mark the occasion, he issued a pair of 1/9 thalers (KM 294 (shown here), KM 295), 1/6 thaler (KM 295), ⅓ thaler (KM 297), a pair of thalers (KM 299, KM 300) and ducat (KM 302). This is the last of the denomination.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.15 g, silver, 23-24 mm diameter, this specimen 3,15 g.
Catalog reference: Hahn 176, KM 294.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]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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