Magdeburg (1549) thaler Dav-9445
This specimen was lot 421 in Künker sale 263 (Osnabrück, June 2015), where it sold for €850 (about US$1,098 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"Magdeburg, STADT Taler o. J. (1549), auf das Augsburger Interim. Mit 8 Sternen auf der Vorderseite und plattdeutscher sowie kleinerer Schrift. v. Schr. - (zu 948 a, dort mit 4 Sternen). R Sehr schön. (Germany, city of Magdeburg, thaler without date (1549). Variety with eight stars and Low German obverse legend. Scarce, very fine.)"
Davenport lists this undated type from the city (not archbishopric) of Magdeburg as rare. By the second half of the sixteenth century, the archbishopric of Magdeburg was completely converted to Lutheranism yet the ecclesiastical state was not abolished. Instead, it became a puppet state of the elector of Brandenburg, who either appointed himself or one of his close relatives archbishop. Brandenburg annexed it outright in 1680.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 28,66 g.
Catalog reference: Dav-9445, v. Schr. -.
- 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.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- [1]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Catalog 263, The Friedrich Popken collection of gold and silver coinages | Coins and Medals from Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. the collection of Ernst Otto Horn, part III, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2015.
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