Mainz 1603 1/2 thaler
This specimen was lot 2301 in Künker sale 404 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €1,900 (about US$2,493 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"DAS ERZBISTUM MAINZ. ERZBISCHOF JOHANN ADAM VON BICKEN, 1601-1604. Die Münzstätte Mainz. ½ Reichstaler 1603, Mainz. Halber Bettlertaler. Dreifach behelmtes und verziertes, vierfeldiges Wappen (Mainz/Bicken), dahinter Schwert und Krummstab gekreuzt//St. Martin reitet l. mit Schwert und teilt seinen Mantel mit einem am Boden sitzenden Bettler, unten der Wappenschild von Mainz. RR Fassungsspuren, Felder bearbeitet, sehr schön. Exemplar der Slg. Dr. Rudolph Walther, Auktion Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. 275, Frankfurt/Main 1971, Nr. 221; der Auktion Münzauktionsgesellschaft Wien (Peter Sauer) 1, Wien 1985, Nr. 783 und der Slg. Heinz Beaury, Auktion Fischer 7, Bonn 2022, Nr. 5225. (Germany, archbishopric of Mainz, John Adam of Bicken, 1601-04, half beggar's thaler of 1603, Mainz mint. Obverse: triple-helmeted, quartered arms of Mainz and Bicken; reverse: St. Martin rides left with a sword and shares his cloak with a beggar sitting on the ground, below, the arms of Mainz. Very rare, mount mark, fields smoothed, very fine.)"
St. Martin is featured on a number of Mainz coins, which have acquired the nickname "beggar's thalers" or "beggar's half thalers". This issue is very rare. The archbishop's hobby seems to have been conducting witch trials.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 14,28 g.
Catalog reference: KM 11, Slg. Pick I (Auktion Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. 405) -; Slg. Walther 221 (this example).
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 404: Coins and Medals of the City of Mainz - The Prof. Dr. Eckhart Pick Collection, Part II, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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