Brabant 1477 2 briquet
This specimen was lot 646 in Jean Elsen sale 161 (Brussels, March 2025), where it sold for €220 (about US$287 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BRABANT, Duché, Marie de Bourgogne (1477-1482), AR double briquet, 1477, Anvers. Main en fin de légende. D/ Deux lions assis et affrontés. Entre leurs t., un briquet. R/ L'écu de Bourgogne sur une croix feuillue et fleuronnée. Patine foncée. (duchy of Brabant, Mary of Burgundy, 1477-82, silver double briquet of 1477, Antwerp mint, hand mintmark at the end of the legend. Obverse: two seated lions facing each other, a firesteel between them; reverse: the arms of Burgundy over a leafy cross. Nice patina, Very Fine.)"
Maria was the daughter of Charles the Rash and the heiress to his domain between France and Germany. She was duchess of Burgundy, Brabant, Limburg, Luxemburg and Guelders and countess of Flanders, Artois, Hainaut, Holland, Zeeland, Namur and Zutphen and the most desirable match of her day. Marie's marriage to Maximilian of Hapsburg brought Hapsburg rule to the Low Countries. This type was struck in large numbers 1477-81 in Brabant and Flanders.
Recorded mintage: 1,695,390.
Specification: 3.06 g, 0.799 fine silver, 27 mm diameter, this specimen is 2,80 g.
Catalog reference: G.H. 39-1a; W. 516; VH 55; Levinson II-27.
- Levinson, Robert, The Early Dated Coins of Europe, 1234-1500: An Illustrated Catalogue and Guide to dated medieval coinage. Clifton, NJ: Coin & Currency Institute, 2007.
- Roberts, James N., The Silver Coins of Medieval France (476-1610 AD), S. Salem, NY: Attic Books, 1996.
- van Gelder, H. Enno, and Marcel Hoc, Les Monnaies des pays-Bas Bourguignons et Espagnols, 1434-1713, Amsterdam, J. Schulman, 1960, with supplement of 1964.
- [1]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 161, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2025.
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