Freiburg 1533 4 kreuzer
This specimen was lot 4196 in Künker sale 406 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €800 (about US$1,050 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"FREIBURG, STADT, 4 Kreuzer (Batzen, Stäbler) 1533. Kl. Prägeschwäche, sehr schön. (city of Freiburg, four kreuzer or batzen of 1533. A little weakly struck, 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 listed for 1533, 1552-53 and undated. A batzen was four kreuzer and was most popular in Switzerland.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 3.31 g.
Catalog reference: KM MB19, Berstett 223.
- 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.
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