File:Solothurn S25-02081Q00.jpg

This specimen was lot 2081 in Sincona sale 25 (Zurich, October 2015), where it sold for 220,000 CHF (about US$271,749 including buyer's fees). The catalog description^[1] noted,

"32 Franken (double dubloon) 1813. Crowned cantonal arms in a small wreath of laurel and palm branches. Rev. Standing warrior with shield and halberd, in the truncation the value. Leaf edge. 15.40 g. Simmen 118. D.T. 120a (Nachtrag). HMZ 2-852a (dieses Exemplar). Fr-394 (2 known). Of highest rarity. Good extremely fine. Edge fault and minimally cleaned.

This coin is one of the rarest of all cantonal gold coins. Up to today, only three specimens are known. Nr. 1 in the Swiss National Museum, Nr. 2 in the Solothurn Museum und Nr. 3 our specimen. The coin shows minimal traces of overstriking, what one leads to assume that - similar to coins of Bern - French double louis d'ors were used as planchets. One can also assume that no special edge dies were used for this microscopically small mintage. This was also not necessary as the French coins already had a leaf edge. One used a minting ring with no decoration. This led to the fact that on certain places the leaf edge is very weak and hard to see, as the leaf edge of the French coin was pressed against the die ring. It is one of the most sought-after cantonal gold coins and it is the first time that this denomination of Solothurn is ever offered in an auction."