Hesse-Cassel 1807-F 1/24 thaler
This specimen was lot 1174 in Stephen Album sale 32 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2018), where it sold for $141. The catalog description[1] noted, "HESSE-CASSEL: AR 1/24 thaler, 1807, mintmaster F, PCGS graded MS65, ex Don Erickson Collection." This type of 1803-07 is common. Year 1807 also has mintmaster C, which is rare. The similar KM 554.2 was struck 1814-21. William succeeded to the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel in 1785 as William IX. In 1803, just prior to the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire, William was promoted to elector. He lived in exile in Denmark 1807-13 while his realm was incorporated into the kingdom of Westphalia. With the help of the Rothschilds, he hid his fortune from Napoleon and multiplied it by canny investments in Great Britain. He fathered four legitimate children and over twenty bastards. Hesse-Kassel would remain an Electorate until it was annexed by Prussia in 1866.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: billon.
Catalog reference: KM 554.1.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 32, featuring the Don Erickson Collection of German Coins, Part II and the Hazerfans Collection of Ottoman Empire Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2018.
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