Mainz 1673-MF 30 kreuzer
This specimen was lot 2387 in Künker sale 404 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €220 (about US$289 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"DAS ERZBISTUM MAINZ. ERZBISCHOF LOTHAR FRIEDRICH VON METTERNICH-BURSCHEID, 1673-1675. Prägungen Lothar Friedrichs als Erzbischof von Mainz, 1673-1675. Die Münzstätte Mainz. ½ Gulden (30 Kreuzer) 1673, Mainz. Münzmeister Matthias Fischer. Mit PRIN : EL am Ende der Vorderseitenumschrift und kleinerer Wertzahl auf der Rückseite. Brustbild r. in geistlichem Ornat//Mit Kurhut bedecktes, sechsfeldiges Wappen (Worms/Mainz/Speyer/Weißenburg/Mainz/Worms) mit Mittelschild von Metternich-Burscheid, dahinter Krummstab und Schwert gekreuzt, zu den Seiten je ein Palmzweig, darunter die Wertzahl 30 in Klammern. Erworben 2020 von Marc Raffler, Hettenshausen. (Germany, archbishopric of Mainz, Lothar Frederick of Metternich-Burscheid, 1673-75, half gulden of 1673, Mainz mint, small date. Obverse: bust right in a decorated robe; reverse: Six-fold arms of Worms, Mainz, Speyer and Weißenburg with an escutcheon of Metternich-Burscheid, an electoral hat above, behind it a crossed sword and crook, palm branches on each side, value below in brackets. Extremely fine.)"
Lothar Friedrich von Metternich-Burscheid (29 September 1617 – 3 June 1675) was the bishop of Speyer from 1652 to 1675 and succeeded Johann Philipp von Schönborn as archbishop of Mainz and bishop of Worms from 1673 to 1675. Pluralism was common in the seventeenth century. As a result of the Thirty Years War, the thaler rose from 72 to ninety kreuzers. Many princes responded in the 1670's by issuing the gulden at its old value of sixty kreuzer or two-thirds of a thaler. The archbishops also issued half gulden in many styles (KM 120, 134, 135, 148, 162, 178) of which this issue of 1673 is the second. This is an unlisted date.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 9,71 g.
Catalog reference: KM 135 (unlisted date), Slg. Pick I (Auktion Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. 405) 489 var.; Slg. Walther 343 var. Vorzüglich.
- 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.
Link to:
- 1672-MF 30 kreuzer = half gulden
- 1672-MF 60 kreuzer = gulden
- 1673-MF 60 kreuzer = gulden
- Mainz 1674-MF albus struck in gold
- 1674-MF 60 kreuzer = gulden
- 1674-MF thaler
- 1674-MF double thaler
- 1675-MF 30 kreuzer, Lothar Friedrich von Metternich-Burscheid
- 1675-MF 30 kreuzer, Damian Hartard von der Leyen
- Coins and currency dated 1673