Julich-Cleve-Berg 1579 thaler Dav-8936
This specimen was lot 5289 in Künker sale 386 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €800 (about US$1,034 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"JÜLICH-BERG, HERZOGTUM, Wilhelm V. 1539-1592. Reichstaler 1579, Rodenkirchen. Hübsche Patina, leicht justiert, sehr schön +. Exemplar der Auktion Fritz Rudolf Künker 23, Osnabrück 1992, Nr. 3249. (duchy of Julich-Berg, William V, 1539-92, thaler of 1579, Rodenkirchen mint. Handsome patina, light adjustment marks, choice very fine.)"
This very scarce type was struck 1570-79, 1583 and 1587 in the latter part of the reign of Wilhelm V. Wikipedia comments,
"The United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was a combination of states of the Holy Roman Empire. The duchies of Jülich and Berg united in 1423. Nearly a century later, in 1521, these two duchies, along with the county of Ravensberg, fell extinct, with only the last duke's daughter Maria von Geldern left to inherit; under Salic law, women could only hold property through a husband or guardian, so the territories passed to her husband—and distant relative—John III, Duke of Cleves and Mark as a result of their strategic marriage in 1509. These united duchies controlled most of the present-day North Rhine-Westphalia that was not within the ecclesiastical territories of Electoral Cologne and Münster."
When the last duke died in 1609, Brandenburg and Pfalz fought a war over the legacy and in 1624 partitioned it, an opening act of the Thirty Years War.
Recorded mintage: 26,000.
Specification: silver, this specimen is 28.90 g.
Catalog reference: KM MB32, Dav-8936; Noss 374 a.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Davenport, John S., German Talers, 1500-1600, Frankfurt am Main, Numismatischer Verlag P. N. Schulten, 1979.
- 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 386: Brakteaten | Mainz | Bibliothek Prof. Dr. Niklot Klüßendorf | Mittelalter und Neuzeit | Goldprägungen | Deutsche Münzen ab 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2023.
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