Mainz 1619 thaler Dav-5539
This specimen was lot 4866 in Künker sale 386 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €16,000 (about US$20,675 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"MAINZ, ERZBISTUM, Johann Schweikhard von Cronberg, 1604-1626. Reichstaler 1619, Frankfurt am Main. * IO : SVIC · D · G · ARCHIEPS - MOGVNT · PRINC · ELE · Brustbild halbl. in geistlichem Ornat, darunter vierfeldiges Wappen (Mainz/Kronberg)//* SUB UMBRA ALARUM TUARUM . ANNO I6I9 Ansicht des Schlosses Aschaffenburg. Äußerst selten. Winz. Henkelspur, min. berieben und bearbeitet, sehr schön-vorzüglich. Aus der Sammlung Heinz Beaury. Exemplar der Auktion Bank Leu 26, Zürich 1980, Nr. 220 (danach etwas bearbeitet). (archbishopric of Mainz, Johann Schweikhard von Cronberg, 1604-26, thaler of 1619, Frankfurt mint. Obverse: half-length robed bust, below quartered arms of Mainz and Kronberg; reverse: view of the Aschaffenburg palace. Very scarce, small mount mark, lightly polished and tooled, very fine to extremely fine.)"
The archbishops of Mainz were prolific issuers of gold coins in the late middle ages but output dropped in the late fifteenth century, never to recover. This type of 1619 is extremely rare.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 27.05 g.
Catalog reference: KM 23, Dav-5539, Slg. Walther 229; Slg. Pick 332.
- 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.
- Davenport, John S., German Church and City Talers, 1600-1700, Galesburg, IL, 1967.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 386: Brakteaten | Mainz | Bibliothek Prof. Dr. Niklot Klüßendorf | Mittelalter und Neuzeit | Goldprägungen | Deutsche Münzen ab 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2023.
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