Denmark 1648 ducat Fr-75

Stack's Bowers sale of the L. E. Bruun Collection, lot 1057

This specimen was lot 1057 in Stack's Bowers sale of the L. E. Bruun Collection (Copenhagen, September 2024), where it sold for €11,100 (about US$12,301 including buyer's fees). The catalog description^[1] noted,

"Tremendous Largesse Klippe with Bright Luster and Limited Circulation, DENMARK. Largesse Ducat Klippe, 1648. Frederik III. Copenhagen Mint. NGC AU-58. Mintmaster: Henrik Köhler. The utterly attractive condition makes this already VERY RARE piece become excessively so. This beauty is highlighted by the rich details and the limited instances of actual handling seen throughout.
The Ducat was the most valuable of the coins that were actually used as largesse money. At the coronation on 23 November 1648, the king rode in a procession from Our Lady's Church to Copenhagen Castle. Behind the king rode people who threw these coins specifically made for distribution to the masses."

While flinging largesse to the crowd was a common practice of many monarchs, only in Scandinavia were special coins struck for the purpose.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 3.49 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 3.45 g.

Catalog reference: Fr-75; KM-163.2; Hede-5A; Sieg-108.1; Schou-27; Aagaard-5.1; Bruun-5982.

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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Denmark 1648 ducat Fr-75

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