Cleves 1485 stuber
The first specimen was lot 3244 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabrück, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €550 (about US$720 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"JÜLICH-KLEVE-BERG, KLEVE, GRAFSCHAFT, SEIT 1417 HERZOGTUM. Johann II. 1481-1521. Stüber 1485, Wesel. Schwanenstüber. Selten in dieser Erhaltung. Vorzüglich. (Germany, duchy of Julich, Cleves and Berg, John II, 1481-1521, "swan" stuber of 1485, Wesel mint. Rare in this quality, extremely fine.)"
The stuber was equivalent to the Dutch stuiver. The second specimen was lot 6352 in CNG Triton XXVIII (New York, January 2025), where it sold for $1,592.50. The catalog description[1] noted, "GERMANY, Kleve (Duchy). Johann II. 1481-1521. AR Stüber. Wesel mint. Dated 1485. Swan left, with one wing outstretched; coat-of-arms to left / Long cross fleurée, with C-L-I-V in quarters. Toned, minor deposits. Good VF. From the Robert Levinson Collection." Wikipedia comments,
"The United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was a combination of states of the Holy Roman Empire. The duchies of Jülich and Berg united in 1423. Nearly a century later, in 1521, these two duchies, along with the county of Ravensberg, fell extinct, with only the last duke's daughter Maria von Geldern left to inherit; under Salic law, women could only hold property through a husband or guardian, so the territories passed to her husband—and distant relative—John III, Duke of Cleves and Mark as a result of their strategic marriage in 1509. These united duchies controlled most of the present-day North Rhine-Westphalia that was not within the ecclesiastical territories of Electoral Cologne and Münster."
The affairs of the dukes of Cleve, Berg and Jülich are tangled even by German standards as the three separate lines intermarried and quarreled. Eventually the collateral lines fell extinct and one lord ruled them all, which by then also included Mark and Upper Gelderland. This line in turn fell extinct about 1609 and the lands were claimed by the elector of Brandenburg and the elector of the Palatinate. The war they fought over it was one of the side conflicts of the Thirty Years War but eventually they partitioned it.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, the first specimen 2.73 g, the second specimen 28 mm diameter, 2.60 g, 3 h axis.
Catalog reference: Noss 158; Levinson I-200.
- 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.
- [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.
- [2]Gasvoda, Michael, Victor England, Eric McFadden, Dave Michaels, Bill Dalzell and Lance Hickman, Triton XXVIII, Lancaster, PA: Classical Numismatic Group, LLC, 2024.
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