Lippe-Detmold 1685-IH 4 ducats Fr-1443
This specimen was lot 163 in Künker sale 400 (Berlin, February 2024), where it sold for €57,500 (about US$74,595 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"LIPPE, GRAFSCHAFT, Simon Heinrich, 1666-1697. 4 Dukaten 1685 (geprägt 1685-1686), Detmold. Abschlag von den Stempeln des Dukaten. SIMON · HENR · GRAF · VND · EDLER · H · ZVR · LIPPE · Brustbild r. mit umgelegtem Mantel//NEC TEMERE NEC TIMIDE Gekröntes, vierfeldiges Wappen von zwei Löwen gehalten, zu den Seiten die geteilte Signatur I - H (Johann Hoffmann, Münzmeister in Detmold 1671-1695), unten Palmzweige und die geteilte Jahreszahl 16 - 85. GOLD. Von allergrößter Seltenheit. Sehr attraktives Exemplar, winz. Randfehler, vorzüglich. Exemplar der Auktion Bankhaus Partin 51, München 1997, Nr. 628. (Germany, county of Lippe-Detmold, Simon Henry, 1666-97, quadruple ducat of 1685, perhaps struck in 1686, Detmold mint, struck using ducat dies. Obverse: mantled bust right; reverse: crowned and quartered arms supported by two lions, dividing the engraver's initials, below, palm branches and the date. Extremely rare, very attractive example, minor edge defects, extremely fine.)"
This rare issue was accompanied by one, 1½, two and three ducats. This is the first gold coin we have posted from this state. Lippe-Detmold's army allegedly comprised the count, one colonel and one private. The state's weakness--nobody else wanted it--probably enabled its survival until 1918.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 14 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 13,71 g.
Catalog reference: KM 109, Ihl/Schwede 308.1 A/a; Fr-1443.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- 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]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 400: Selected löser of the Dukes of Guelph from the Friedrich Popken Collection | Numismatic treasures from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. "multiple portraits" from a Westphalian private collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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