Magdeburg 1638-PS thaler Dav-5497
This specimen was lot 399 in Künker sale 263 (Osnabrück, June 2015), where it sold for €2,400 (about US$3,100 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"Magdeburg, ERZBISTUM August von Sachsen-Weissenfels, 1638-1680. Reichstaler 1638, Halle, auf seine Inthronisation. RR Hübsche Patina, sehr schön-vorzüglich. (Germany, archbishopric of Magdeburg, August of Saxe-Weissenfels, 1638-80, thaler of 1638, Halle mint, on his coronation. Rare, nice toning, very fine to extremely fine.)"
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 new archbishop was installed, thalers were issued in numerous varieties (Dav-5495, -5495A, -5495B, -5495C, -5495D, -5495E, -5496, -5496A, -5496B, -5496C, -5497, -5498) and a ducat (Fr-1557).
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: Dav-5497, v. Schr. 737, KM 119.
- 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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