Luxembourg 1889 5 centimes
This specimen was lot 1364 in Stephen Album sale 30 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2018), where it sold for $158.62. The catalog description[1] noted, "LUXEMBOURG: Willem III, 1849-1890, AE 5 centimes, 1889, ESSAI, never issued for general circulation, NGC graded MS64 RB." Luxembourg was part of the Austrian Netherlands during most of the eighteenth century and was part of revolutionary and Napoleonic France during 1797-1815. At the Congress of Vienna, the duchy was awarded to the king of the Netherlands. In 1830, most of the duchy joined the new state of Belgium but a sliver remained part of the Netherlands and was under Dutch rule until the death of William III in 1890. His heir was queen Wilhelmina who, being female, was disqualified to be duchess of Luxembourg. Another princeling (a former duke of Nassau) was found to become grand duke and Luxembourg assumed her current status as an independent state. During the Dutch period, few coins were issued specifically for Luxembourg; five centimes were issued for circulation 1854-55, 1860, 1870. This type, along with the accompanying ten centimes and five francs, is a pattern.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: copper.
Catalog reference: KM-E13.
- 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, Auction 30, featuring the George Anderson Collection of Tibetan Coins, the Dr. John W. Lund Collection of Swedish Coins and the Mike Edwards Collection, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2018.
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