Besancon (1538) 2 thaler Dav-A8941
This specimen was lot 480 in Künker sale 400 (Berlin, February 2024), where it sold for €10,000 (about US$12,973 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"FRANKREICH/FEODALES, BESANÇON, Stadt. Pièce du droit de général o. J. (um 1538), im Gewicht von 2 Talern, mit dem Brustbild Karls V. Wappen von Besançon//Gekröntes und geharnischtes Brustbild r. mit Löwenkopfschulter. In US-Plastikholder der NGC mit der Bewertung AU 53 (6351728-001). Von großer Seltenheit. Hübsche Patina, sehr schön-vorzüglich. Diese Stücke ("pièces du droit de général") sind ein Phänomen der Münzstätte in Besançon. Die doppeltalerförmigen Prägungen wurden - quasi als Naturallohn - an die 14 Gouverneure der Stadt in ihrer Funktion als Aufseher der Münzstätte ausgegeben. Die Stücke kommen als Taler sowie als Doppeltaler vor. (French states, city of Besançon, undated pièce du droit de général of double thaler weight, with the bust of Charles V. Obverse: arms of the city; reverse: crowned and armored bust right of the emperor. Extremely rare, handsome patina, very fine to extremely fine. These pieces ("pièces du droit de général") are a phenomenon of the Besançon mint. The double-thaler sized coins were issued - as a kind of reward in kind - to the 14 governors of the city in their function as overseers of the mint. The pieces come as thalers and as double thalers.)"
In the sixteenth century, Besançon was the chief city of the Franche Comté, or Free County of Burgundy. Franche Comté was part of the Burgundian inheritance which passed to the Hapsburgs in the 1490's and thence to Philip II of Spain on the abdication of Charles V in 1556. Besançon, being an imperial free city, was not directly involved in these transfers but was invaded and annexed to France by Louis XIV as a result of the Thirty Years War. Her coinage ceased in 1673. When Besançon was granted the mint right by Charles V, he stipulated that all the coinage should bear his portrait, which condition the city scrupulously observed. This piece was minted 104 years before the mint in Paris would strike its first écu in silver.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: Dav-A8941; Carvalho/Clairand/Kind S. 149, 2.
- Roberts, James N., The Silver Coins of Medieval France (476-1610 AD), S. Salem, NY: Attic Books, 1996.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 400: Selected löser of the Dukes of Guelph from the Friedrich Popken Collection | Numismatic treasures from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. multiple portraits" from a Westphalian private collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
- Davenport, John S., German Talers, 1500-1600, Frankfurt am Main, Numismatischer Verlag P. N. Schulten, 1979.
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