Magdeburg 1638-PS ducat Fr-1547
This specimen was lot 426 in Künker sale 263 (Osnabrück, June 2015), where it sold for €2,800 (about US$3,617 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"Magdeburg, STADT Dukat 1638, mit Titel Ferdinands III. auf den Neubau der Stadt. GOLD. RR Sehr schön. Exemplar der Auktion Leu 70, Zürich 1997, Nr. 6999. (Germany, city of Magdeburg, ducat of 1638, in the name of Ferdinand III, on the reconstruction of the city. Rare, very fine, from Auction Leu 70, lot 6999.)"
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. In 1638, when the emperor authorized the reconstruction of the city, sacked and burned in 1631, the fathers issued thalers (Dav-5520) and ducats.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.5 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 3,45 g.
Catalog reference: Fr-1547; v. Schr. 967. KM 271.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [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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