Liege 1641 ecu d'or Fr-320
This specimen was lot 1223 in Jean Elsen sale 163 (Brussels, November 2025), where it sold for €1,800 (about US$2,079 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"LIÈGE, Principauté, Ferdinand de Bavière (1612-1650), AV couronne d'or (écu d'or Ferdinand), 1641, Liège. D/ Croix aux bras couronnés, cantonnée de quatre F. R/ Écu de Bavière couronné, chargé de l'écusson de Bouillon, sur une crosse et une épée en sautoir. Légère faiblesse de frappe. Belle couleur, avec brillant de frappe. Provient de la collection A. Symkens, Liège, 25 novembre 1991. (bishopric of Liège, Ferdinand of Bavaria, 1612-50, gold écu of 1641, Liège mint. Obverse: cross with four crowned arms, cantonned with four "F's"; reverse crowned arms of Bavaria, charged with the escutcheon of Bouillon, over a crossed sword and cross. Slightly weakly struck, nice color with mint luster, Very Fine - Extremely Fine.)
The bishopric of Liège was an ecclesiastical state in central Belgium and usually ruled by a Hapsburg client. The surrounding territory was ruled by the Spanish Hapsburgs from about 1500 until 1699 and the Austrian Hapsburgs 1714-97. This rare type was struck intermittently 1637-44.
Ferdinand was the second of four prince-bishops from Bavaria. They were also dukes of Bouillon, archbishops of Cologne and electors of the Empire, all of which titles appeared in various combinations on their coins. They are as follows:
- Ernest, r. 1581-1612, archbishop of Cologne (1583-1612), bishop of Münster (1584-1612), Freising, Hildesheim and Liège.
- Ferdinand, r. 1612-50, archbishop of Cologne, bishop of Münster, Hildesheim, Paderborn (1618-50) and Liège. Never ordained as a priest.
- Maximilian Henry, r. 1650-88, archbishop of Cologne, bishop of Münster, Hildesheim and Liège. Lost the duchy of Bouillon to Louis XIV.
- Joseph Clement, r. 1688-1723, bishop of Regensburg and Freising (1685-94) and archbishop of Cologne, bishop of Hildesheim (1702-23) and Liège (1694-1723).
- Clemens August, r. 1723-61, bishop of Regensburg (1716-19) and then archbishop of Cologne, bishop of Münster, Hildesheim, Osnabrück and Paderborn but never ruled in Liège. His incompetence and extravagance ended Wittelsbach rule in Cologne.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.36 g, 0.952 fine gold, this specimen is 3,33 g.
Catalog reference: KM 54.2, Chestret 583; Delm. 355; Dengis 1080, Fr-320.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Delmonte, A., Le Bénélux D'or, Amsterdam: Jacques Schulman N.V., 1964, with supplements to 1977.
- Jean-Luc Dengis, Les Monnaies de la Principauté de Liege, 3 vols. Wetteren: Moneta, 2006.
- 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]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 163, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils S.A., 2025.
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