Mainz 1768-FB 20 kreuzer
This specimen was part of lot 4815 in Künker sale 386 (Osnabrück, March 2023), which sold for €300 (about US$388 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"MAINZ, ERZBISTUM, Emerich Joseph von Breitbach-Bürresheim, 1763-1774. 20 Kreuzer 1765 FB, 1768, FB, Mainz. Dazu: 3 Pfennig 1771 (selten); Ku.-4 Pfennig 1766; Ku.-Pfennig 1766, 1769, 1771; Ku.-Heller 1769 (2x). Slg. Walther 599, 615. 9 Stück., Schön-sehr schön und besser. (archbishopric of Mainz, Emerich Joseph von Breitbach-Bürresheim, 1763-74, twenty kreuzer of 1765, Mainz mint. Also included are 1771 three pfenning, 1766 copper four pfenning and pfennings of 1766-71 and two hellers of 1769. Nine pieces, fine-very fine and better.)"
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. Coinage for this state was sporadic in the eighteenth century but seven denominations, from pfennig to thaler, were struck in Mainz in 1768. This type was struck 1768 and 1771-72 and has a modest catalog value. Twenty kreuzer was 1/12 of a convention thaler.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.68 g, 0.583 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM 367, Slg. Walther 615.
- 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 386: Brakteaten | Mainz | Bibliothek Prof. Dr. Niklot Klüßendorf | Mittelalter und Neuzeit | Goldprägungen | Deutsche Münzen ab 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2023.
Link to: