Cleves 1496 1/2 albus
This specimen was lot 477 in Jean Elsen sale 164 (Brussels, March 2026), where it sold for €220 (about US$306 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"ALLEMAGNE, CLÈVES, Johann II (1481-1521), AR 1/2 Albus, 1496, Wesel. D/ IOHS DVX CLIVENS Z CO MAR Écu de Clèves dans un trilobe anglé. R/ MO NO WESALIE A MCCCC96 Écu de la Marck dans un trilobe anglé. Très rare. Petit défaut de flan. Beau à Très Beau. (Germany, duchy of Cleves, John II, 1481-1521, silver half albus of 1496, Wesel mint. Obverse: arms of Cleves in an angled trilobe; reverse: arms of Mark in an angled trilobe. Very rare, minor planchet fault, Fine - Very Fine.)"
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. Numista states this coin was worth 1/84 of a thaler.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 0.79-1.00 g, silver or billon; this specimen 0,98 g.
Catalog reference: Noss, Kleve, 172; Levinson I-340.
- 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]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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