Brabant 1480 2 briquet
This specimen was lot 754 in Jean Elsen sale 164 (Brussels, March 2026), where it sold for €240 (about US$334 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BRABANT, Duché, Marie de Bourgogne (1477-1482), AR double briquet, 1480, Anvers. Tour en fin de légende. D/ Deux lions assis et affrontés. Entre eux, un briquet. R/ L'écu de Bourgogne sur une croix feuillue et fleuronnée. Légère faiblesse de frappe. Belle patine. Très Beau. (duchy of Brabant, Mary of Burgundy, 1477-82, silver double briquet of 1480, Antwerp mint, tower at the end of the legend. Obverse: two seated lions facing each other, between them a firesteel; reverse: arms of Austria-Burgundy over a Burgundian cross. Slightly weakly cross, nice patina, Very Fine.)"
This type was struck in large quantities 1477-81 and is fairly common today. Similar coins were struck in Flanders. 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. She married Maximilian of Hapsburg to keep her lands out of the hands of Louis XI of France but died in 1482 at the age of 25. Note the early form of the "4" in the date.
Recorded mintage: 1,581,930.
Specification: 3.06 g, 0.799 fine silver, 27 mm diameter; this specimen 3,07 g.
Catalog reference: G.H. 39-1b; W. 517; VH 55; Levinson II-45.
- 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 164: Monnaies du duché de Brabant et du royaume de Belgique, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2026.
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