Denmark 1647 1/2 ducat Fr-42a

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Stack's Bowers sale of the L. E. Bruun Collection, lot 1046
SB924-1046r.jpg

This specimen was lot 1046 in Stack's Bowers sale of the L. E. Bruun Collection (Copenhagen, September 2024), where it sold for €28,800 (about US$31,916 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,

"About Uncirculated 1/2 Ducat with Appealing Brilliance, DENMARK. 1/2 Ducat, 1647. Copenhagen Mint. Christian IV. NGC AU-58. Mintmaster: Heinrich Köhler. Engraver: Hans zum Busch. Sharply struck on an unusually even flan and altogether an absolutely charming example with all details presenting very well. EXTREMELY RARE with only a very few privately owned examples. Due to its "spectacular" design this type has always ranked among the most coveted of all from the Danish Renaissance. The latin inscription, VIDE MIRA DOMI ("Behold the wonders of the Lord") found below a pair of spectacles refers to the gold that was found near Arendal in Norway.

The king had high hopes for this find and had this highly unusual series of Ducats made from the Norwegian gold which was brought to Copenhagen to be refined by the alchemist and goldsmith, Caspar Herbach."

This spectacles design was used on quarter ducats (Fr-42 and Fr-60), half ducats (Fr-42a and Fr-59) and ducats (Fr-58a). Christian IV (r. 1588-1648) had a long but not particularly successful reign. Denmark lost the Torstenson War and had to cede Jämtland, Härjedalen, Idre, Särna, the Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Ösel, and the province of Halland in 1645.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 1.75 g, 0.979 fine gold, 18 mm diameter, this specimen 1.68 g.

Catalog reference: Fr-42a; KM-152; Hede-40; Sieg-126; Schou-4; Bruun-5814.

Source:

  • Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
  • Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
  • Siegs Møntcatalog 2016: Danmark med Omrader, 48 ed., Frederikssund, Siegs Forlag ApS, 2015.
  • [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio, Jeremy Bostwick and Henrik Holt Christensen, The L. E. Bruun Collection - A Corpus of Scandinavian Monetary History Part I, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.

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