Magdeburg 1629 6 groschen
This specimen was lot 4118 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabrück, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €800 (about US$1,047 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"MAGDEBURG, STADT. 6 Groschen 1629, geprägt während der Belagerung durch kaiserliche Truppen unter General Albrecht von Wallenstein. Jungfrau über Stadttor//VI / GROSCHEN / MAGDEBVR : / STAT GELT · / · 1 · 6 · Z9 ·. RR Schrötlingsfehler am Rand, fast sehr schön. Aus der Sammlung Eberhard Link. Exemplar der Auktion Gießener Münzhandlung 51, München 1990, Nr. 2359. (Germany, city of Magdeburg, six groschen of 1629, struck during the siege of the city by Wallenstein's troops. Obverse: maiden over the city gates; reverse: value and date. Rare, planchet crack, about very fine.)"
This coin was nominally a quarter thaler but seems a little light. This was struck during the nastiest siege of the Thirty Years War. Imperial troops stormed, sacked and burned the town in May 1631, killing 20,000 of the 25,000 inhabitants.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 6,59 g.
Catalog reference: KM 259, Brause-Mansfeld Tf. 17, 20; v. Schr. 940; Engel/Fabre/Perret/Wattier 4.1.14.2.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Korchnak, Lawrence C., Siege Coins of the World, 1453-1902, Lancaster, PA: Classical Numismatic Group, 2021.
- [1]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Catalog 335: Bracteates from Upper Swabia and the area of the Lake Constance | Coins and Medals from Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. the Dr. Karl Walter Bach Collection of coins of the Austrian nobility, Special collections of Bavaria, Lubeck, Wurttemberg as well as siege coins from the Eberhard Link Collection. Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2020.
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