Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel 1589 1/4 thaler
This specimen was lot 73197 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, February 2023), where it sold for $264. The catalog description[1] noted, "GERMANY. Brunswick-Luneburg: Wolfenbuttel. 1/4 "Spectacles" Taler, 1589. Goslar Mint. Julius. PCGS Genuine--Tooled, VF Details. Despite the noted tooling and roughness to the surfaces, a charming representative of the early fractional denomination so-called due to the spectacles hanging (among other things) from the shaggy forest dweller. From the Robert C. Knepper Collection." Altho the auctioneers catalogued this as KM MB242 (reverse legend "CONSVMOR HENRICOPOLI"), it is actually an unlisted date of KM MB216 (reverse legend "CONSVMOR GOSLAR"). Both are unpriced in the SCWC and presumably rare. This design also appeared on thalers and half thalers of the time.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: KM MB216 (unlisted date); Welter-593.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Nicol, N. Douglas, Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of German Coins, 1501-Present, 3rd ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2011.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, February 2023 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, featuring the David Sterling Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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