Hesse-Cassel 1821 1/24 thaler
This specimen was lot 941 in Stephen Album internet sale 28 (Santa Rosa, CA, July 2024), where it sold for $60. The catalog description[1] noted, "HESSE-CASSEL: Wilhelm I, 1803-1806, 1813-1821, AR 1/24 thaler, 1821, AU." 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. This type was struck 1814-21, after William was restored, and is fairly common.
Recorded mintage: unknown but a common date.
Specification: billon.
Catalog reference: KM-554.2.
- 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, Internet Auction 28, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
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