Mainz 1766-FB 20 kreuzer
This specimen was lot 2500 in Künker sale 404 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €80 (about US$105 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"DAS ERZBISTUM MAINZ. ERZBISCHOF EMMERICH JOSEPH VON BREIDBACH-BÜRRESHEIM, 1763-1774. Die Münzstätte Mainz. 20 Kreuzer (1/6 Konventionstaler) 1766, Mainz. Münzmeister Damian Fritsch. Wardein Peter Moritz Brahm. Mit IOSEPH in der Vorderseitenumschrift und MARCK in der Rückseitenumschrift. Brustbild r. in geistlichem Ornat, darunter [drei Ringe übereinander] (sechsstrahliger Stern)//Mit Kurhut bedecktes, zweifeldiges Wappen (Mainz/Breidbach) auf Postament mit Wertzahl 20, dahinter Schwert und Krummstab gekreuzt, unten zu den Seiten die geteilte Signatur F - B. Mit schräg geriffeltem Rand. Sehr schön +. (Germany, archbishopric of Mainz, Emmerich Joseph of Breidbach-Bürresheim, 1763-74, twenty kreuzer or one-sixth convention thaler of 1766, Mainz mint, with IOSEPH in the obverse inscription and MARCK in the reverse inscription. Obverse: bust right in episcopal mantle, initial on truncation; reverse: capped impaled arms of Mainz and Briedbach, crossed sword and crozer behind, value below, obliquely reeded edge. Very fine or better.)"
Emmerich Joseph von Breidbach zu Bürresheim (1707-74) was also bishop of Worms after 1768. He is noted for implementing educational reform in his diocese. A considerable variety of low denomination coins exists for his reign. The thaler, which had been ninety kreuzer in the seventeenth century, was raised to 120 kreuzer in the eighteenth century and renamed from reichsthaler to convention thaler. The gulden remained sixty kreuzer and so became half a thaler from two-thirds.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.68 g, 0.583 fine silver, 29 mm diameter, this specimen 6,55 g.
Catalog reference: KM 358, Schön 49; Slg. Pick I (Auktion Dr. Busso Peus Nachf. 405) 723 leicht var.; Slg. Walther 624 var.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [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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