Halberstadt 1617-HS thaler
The bishopric of Halberstadt was founded in the early ninth century. In 1479, a Saxon prince, greedy for the see's revenues, pushed out the reigning bishop and appointed his teenage son as administrator. No bishop was anointed to succeed him and the diocese was ruled by administrators thru the Reformation, which arrived in 1540. Various princes of the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel family ruled 1566-1623, of which Christian was the last. The next administrator was a prince of the Hohenzollern family and the bishopric was annexed to Brandenburg by the terms of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. It remained a part of Prussia until the end of the Wilhelmine empire. This specimen was lot 32168 in Heritage sale 3081 (New York, January 2020), where it sold for $13,200. The catalog description[1] noted, "German States: Halberstadt. Bishropic Taler 1617-HS AU58 NGC. A remarkably rare issue, one which is unlisted in both the Standard Catalog of World Coins and Davenport. It is thought that most of the original issuance was melted down during and following the tumult of the Thirty Years' War, a period known throughout German history as the Kipper- und Wipperzeit. The exceedingly few examples we could locate have survived in a state of considerable wear, unlike the present selection, which is certainly one of the absolute finest in existence, having experienced only minimal time in circulation and offering resultingly sharp detailing with freshly lustrous fields across both the obverse and reverse. A tremendous rarity of German numismatics, and a likely once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the majority of our bidders." The bishop, Christian, was from Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel but never ruled as duke there.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: KM-Unlisted, Dav-Unl.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Auction 3081, featuring the Caranett Collection, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2019.
Link to: