Freiburg 1503 dicken
This specimen was lot 4195 in Künker sale 406 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €14,000 (about US$18,370 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"FREIBURG, STADT, Dicken 1503. Adlerkopf l.//Madonna mit dem Kind v. v. auf Thron sitzend. Von großer Seltenheit. Attraktives Exemplar mit hübscher Patina, sehr schön +. Exemplar der Slg. Jäger, Auktion Helbing, München 1927, Nr. 394 und der Auktion Leu 74, Zürich 1998, Nr. 964. (city of Freiburg, dicken of 1503. Obverse: eagle's head left; reverse: Madonna and Child enthroned. Extremely rare, attractive example with handsome patina, choice very fine.)"
Freiburg, north of Basel and east of the Rhine, was the chief town of the Austrian province of Breisgau. In 1803, Napoleon handed it over to his ally, the grand duke of Baden, whose possession it remained until the collapse of the Wilhelmine empire in 1918. This issue is not priced in the SCWC. A dicken was a quarter thaler before thalers were widely available and was most popular in Switzerland.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 7,16 g.
Catalog reference: KM MB9, Berstett 144 var.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Nicol, N. Douglas, Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of German Coins, 1501-Present, 3rd ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2011.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 406: Gold Coins | Coins and Medals from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. Löwenstein-Wertheim | German Coins after 1871, a. o. Patterns from the Coenen Collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
Link to: