Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel 1618 5 thaler Dav-LS39
This specimen was lot 4114 in Künker sale 441 (Osnabrück, March 2026), where it sold for €8,000 (about US$11,006 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BRAUNSCHWEIG-WOLFENBÜTTEL, FÜRSTENTUM Friedrich Ulrich, 1613-1634. Löser zu 5 Reichstalern 1618, Goslar oder Zellerfeld. Mit Wertpunze; Münzmeister Heinrich Oeckeler. * FRIDERICUS · ULRICUS · DEI · GRATIA · DU : X · BRUNSVICENSIS · ET · LUNEB : Der geharnischte Herzog reitet r. mit Kommandostab und umgelegtem wehenden Mantel//* DEO * ET * PATRIÆ * - * ANNO * DOMINI * 1618 · (Münzmeisterzeichen gekröntes Herz auf gekreuztem Pfeil und Zainhaken) Fünffach behelmtes, elffeldiges Wappen, zu den Seiten je ein wilder Mann mit Baumstamm, unten Kartusche mit eingepunzter Wertzahl. Von allergrößter Seltenheit. Unikum. Kl. Schrötlingsfehler am Rand, Felder leicht geglättet, sehr schön. Exemplar der Auktion Münzen & Medaillen AG 23, Basel 1961, Nr. 950, der Auktion Fritz Rudolf Künker 278, Osnabrück 2016, Nr. 1750 und der Sammlung Friedrich Popken, Auktion Fritz Rudolf Künker 375, Osnabrück 2022, Nr. 2157. (duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Frederick Ulrich, 1613-34, five thaler of 1618, Goslar or Zellerfeld mint, with value punched in. Obverse: the mounted duke rides right with scarf and marshal's baton; reverse: five helmeted, eleven-fold arms supported by two wild men with staffs; below, a cartouche with the value punched in; mintmark: a crowned heart at the top. Supremely rare, perhaps unique; edge crack, light smoothing, very fine.)"
Most of the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel multiple thalers were issued as commemoratives but some, likely including this one, were made and sold at inflated prices as fundraisers. Dav-LS39 is actually a quadruple thaler; it's probable that Davenport was unaware of this piece.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver; this specimen 141,25 g.
Catalog reference: KM 86 (as quadruple thaler), Dav-LS39 (as quadruple thaler); Duve - (zu 5, dort als Löser zu 4 Reichstalern); Welter 1017 (as quadruple thaler); Preussag Collection (Auktion London Coin Galleries/Künker 1) - (zu 29, dort als Löser zu 4 Reichstalern).
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Davenport, John S., Large Size Silver Coins of the World, 16th-19th Centuries, 3rd Ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1991.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Frühjahrs-Auktion 441: Orders and Decorations from the Estate of Wilhelm, Duke of Bavaria (1752–1837), among others | Coins and Medals from the Middle Ages and Modern times, particularly Denmark, Habsburg, Norway, and Saxony, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2026.
Link to: