Mainz 1769-DF 1/2 thaler
This specimen was lot 4814 in Künker sale 386 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €280 (about US$362 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"MAINZ, ERZBISTUM, Emerich Joseph von Breitbach-Bürresheim, 1763-1774. 1/2 Konv.-Taler 1769, DF, Mainz. Sehr schön +. Erworben von der Münzenhandlung Waldemar Wruck, Berlin. (archbishopric of Mainz, Emerich Joseph von Breitbach-Bürresheim, 1763-74, half convention thaler of 1769, Mainz mint. 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. Coinage for this state was sporadic in the eighteenth century but four denominations, from pfennig to ducat, were struck in Mainz in 1769. This type was struck 1768-69 and is not cheap.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 14.03 g, 0.833 fine silver, this specimen 13.95 g.
Catalog reference: KM 368, Slg. Walther 618; Slg. Pick 743.
- 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.
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