Brandenburg 1635-DK 1/2 thaler
This specimen was lot 3718 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabrück, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €4,000 (about US$5,235 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BRANDENBURG-PREUSSEN, BRANDENBURG, MARKGRAFSCHAFT, SEIT DEM 14. JAHRHUNDERT KURFÜRSTENTUM, Georg Wilhelm, 1619-1640. 1/2 Reichstaler 1635, Königsberg. RR Henkelspur, fast sehr schön. (Germany, electorate of Brandenburg, George William, 1619-40, half thaler of 1635, Königsberg mint. Rare, mount mark, about very fine.)"
The half thalers of Brandenburg are generally rare; many types are unpriced in the SCWC. This issue of 1635-38, tho scarce, is among the more available. The half thaler was abandoned completely in the 1670's when the gulden (⅔ thaler) and half gulden (⅓ thaler) became popular. George William spent most of his reign in Königsberg in Prussia. His subjects, left to the mercies of the pillaging armies of the Thirty Years War, were likely not grateful.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 14.10 g.
Catalog reference: KM 150.2, Marienb. 1519; Olding 32.
- 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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