Julich-Cleve-Berg 1587 goldgulden Fr-1386
This specimen was lot 6094 in Künker sale 386 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €2,400 (about US$3,101 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"JÜLICH-KLEVE-BERG, KLEVE, GRAFSCHAFT, SEIT 1417 HERZOGTUM, Wilhelm V. 1539-1592. Goldgulden 1587, Kleve. GOLD. RR Min. gewellt, Schrötlingsrisse am Rand, sehr schön. Aus der Sammlung "Cygnus in Nummis". Exemplar der Auktion Gerhard Hirsch 214, München 2001, Nr. 2306. (duchy of Julich-Cleve-Berg, William V, 1539-92, goldgulden of 1587, Cleve mint. Very rare, slightly bent, edge cracks, very fine.)"
This very scarce type was struck 1567-68, 1572, 1581, 1587, 1589 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: 720.
Specification: 3.25 g, 0.917 fine gold, this specimen 3.20 g.
Catalog reference: KM MB27, Noss 286; Fr-1386.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- 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.
- 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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