Memmingen 1623 10 ducats Fr-1742
This specimen was lot 30259 in Heritage auction 3096 (Dallas, TX, March 2021), where it sold for $384,000. The catalog description[1] noted,
"Unique Memmingen "Regimentstaler" Struck in Gold to 10 Ducat-Weight. German States: Memmingen. Free City gold Medallic 10 Ducat 1623 MS62+ NGC. Johannes Vogel as mintmaster. Struck from Taler dies (cf. KM-M1). Few coins can claim to be the artistic equal of the specimen on offer here. Its beauty is distinguished not only by its phenomenal imagery--the obverse (as holdered) bearing a charming city view of Memmingen, while the reverse contains the arms of the three mayors and two city councilors (Ehringer, Haintzel, Koch, Sättelin, and Jenisch) surrounded by the 14 heraldic shields of the other participants in the council--but also by the utter superiority of its preservation, very much on the cusp of choice certification. Graced with a harvest-gold and honey patina that intensifies amidst the reverse shields, "Regimentstalers" such as this, (so-named for the local government, usually struck in silver) were very likely produced as tokens of the city's allegiance to the Imperial cause following the crushing defeat of Friedrich V at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620; types of the same class are also known from Ulm, Augsburg, Konstanz, and Ravensburg from the early 1620s. Renowned for their depictions of sweeping cityscapes, entries in the series come highly contested, and this appears to be the sole representative of any city to have been produced in gold. It is hardly a stretch of the imagination to envision this coin as a gift for a distinguished official, ensuring it a place of prominence in its next coin cabinet. Ex. Guia Collection (Bowers & Merena, March 1988, Lot 158) [cover lot]. From the Paramount Collection."
All the coinage of this locale is rare, so we haven't bothered to set up a page for it. We have filed it under Bavaria, which annexed the town in 1802 and holds it today. This is the only gold coin of the 17th century.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 35 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 35.81 g.
Catalog reference: KM-M2 (Rare; this coin), Fr-1742 (Unique), Wilmersdörffer-Unl., cf. Madai-2284 (for taler), Sedlmaier Collection-10299 (same), von Schluthess-Rechberg Collection-7118 (R; same).
- 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.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano and Warren Tucker, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Auction 3096, featuring the Paramount Collection of World & Ancient Coins, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2021.
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