Magdeburg 1640-PS thaler Dav-5502
This specimen was lot 401 in Künker sale 263 (Osnabrück, June 2015), where it sold for €1,000 (about US$1,292 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"Magdeburg, ERZBISTUM August von Sachsen-Weissenfels, 1638-1680. Reichstaler 1640, Halle. RR Fast sehr schön. (Germany, archbishopric of Magdeburg, August of Saxe-Weissenfels, 1638-80, thaler of 1640, Halle mint. Rare, choice very 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. This issue of 1640 is rare, see the matching half thaler. Magdeburg, sacked and burned in 1631, would never recover her former prosperity.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: Dav-5502, v. Schr. 750, KM 132.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Davenport, John S., German Church and City Talers, 1600-1700, Galesburg, IL, 1967.
- [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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