Mainz 1650-ET ducat Fr-1656
This specimen was lot 4723 in Künker sale 386 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €650 (about US$840 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"MAINZ, ERZBISTUM, Johann Philipp von Schönborn, 1647-1673. Dukat 1650, ET, Mainz. GOLD. Gewellt, sehr schön +. (archbishopric of Mainz, John Philip of Schonborn, 1647-73, ducat of 1650, Mainz mint. Bent, choice very 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 was struck 1650-51 and is rare, tho less so than Fr-1655. Johann Philipp von Schönborn (1605–1673) was a committed pluralist, being the archbishop-elector of Mainz (1647–1673), the bishop of Würzburg (1642–1673), and the bishop of Worms (1663–1673). He was a principal negotiator of the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 which ended the Thirty Years War.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.50 g, 0.989 fine gold, this specimen 3.30 g.
Catalog reference: KM 105, Fr-1656; Slg. Walther 293; Helmschrott 298; Slg. Pick 407.
- 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.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- [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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