Cologne 1570 1/2 thaler
The first specimen was lot 953 in Künker sale 293 (Osnabrück, Germany, July 2017), where it sold for €380 (about US$512 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"KÖLN, STADT, 1/2 Reichstaler 1570, mit Titel Maximilians II. R Kl. Schrötlingsfehler, sehr schön. (Germany, city of Cologne, half thaler of 1570, struck in the name of Maximilian II. Minor edge defects, very fine.)"
The second specimen was lot 2519 in Jean Elsen sale 160 (Brussels, November 2024), where it sold for €850 (about US$1,076 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[2] noted,
"NEDERLAND, HOLLAND, De Staten in opstand (1572-1581), AR halve rijksdaalder van de stad Keulen, 1570. Met titel van Maximiliaan II en klop Hollands wapenschild in parelrand. Vz/ Gehelmd stadswapen gehouden door een griffioen en een leeuw. Kz/ Gekroonde rijksarend. Van de grootste zeldzaamheid. Vermoedelijk het tweede gekend exemplaar. Zeer Fraai. (Netherlands, Holland, States Revolt, 1572-81, silver half thaler of Cologne, struck in the name of Maximilian II and counterstamped with the Dutch arms in pearled border. Obverse: helmeted arms supported by a griffin and a lion; reverse: crowned imperial eagle. Extremely rare, possibly one of two known, very fine.)"
The archbishopric of Cologne, like Mainz and Trier, was an ecclesiastical state along the river Rhine whose ruler was one of the Electors of the Empire. Numista shows the Holland counterstamp on a half thaler of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, the second specimen 14,35 g.
Catalog reference: Noss 163. The second specimen van Gelder, JMP 67 (1980), H1 (only shown on a rijksdaalder); Noss 162c; Delm-141A.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- [1]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Katalog 293: Münzen aus Mittelalter und Neuzeit u. a. die westfälischen Privatsammlungen Werner Bröker und Bernd Terletzki, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2017.
- [2]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 160, Collection de deniers liegeois et Collection de monnaies d'or francaises, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2024.
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