Hamburg 1666-MF 2 ducats Fr-1099
This specimen was lot 4003 in Künker sale 406 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €3,600 (about US$4,724 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"HAMBURG, STADT, 2 Dukaten 1666, auf den Westfälischen Frieden. Münzmeister Matthias Freude. GOLD. RR Leicht gewellt, winz. Kratzer, vorzüglich. Der vorliegende Doppeldukat dokumentiert mit der Aufschrift Vivat - Pax (Es lebe der Friede) die Friedensfreude. Ob der Rat der Stadt diese Beischrift veranlaßt hat und ob der Doppeldukat als Gedenkmünze für ein Friedensfest diente, ist nicht bekannt. (city of Hamburg, double ducat of 1666, on the Peace of Westphalia. Very rare, slightly wavy, some hairlines, extremely fine. The present double ducat celebrates the peace with the inscription Vivat - Pax (Long Live Peace). It is not known whether the city council ordered this inscription and whether the double ducat served as a commemorative coin for a peace festival.)"
This type was struck previously in 1649 and 1660. The Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years War, was well worth a commemorative.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.98 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 6,75 g.
Catalog reference: KM 228, Fr-1099; Gaed. 12 a; Slg. Vogel (Auktion Künker 221) 8488.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- 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.
- [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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