Munsterberg-Oels (1510-11) goldgulden Fr-3223
This specimen was lot 1048 in Sincona Auction 100 (Zürich, October 2025), where it sold for 15,000 CHF (about US$22,608 including buyers' fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"DEUTSCHLAND Schlesien-Münsterberg-Oels, Herzogtum. Albrecht und Karl, Söhne Heinrichs I. von Münsterberg, 1498-1511. Goldgulden o. J., Reichenstein. Ausbeute der Reichensteiner Gruben. ALBE KARLO - D G D MVNS' Der hl. Jakob mit Hut, Heiligenschein und umgelegtem Mantel steht von vorn, in der Linken Stab, zwischen seinen Füssen Wappenschild. Rv. MONET - NOVA - AVR RE - IChENSTEI Vierfeldiges Wappen auf Langkreuz. Von grösster Seltenheit. Sehr schön-vorzüglich. Exemplar der Preussag Collection, Auktion Künker/London Coin Galleries 1, Oktober 2015, Los 422. Erster Goldgulden der Grube Reichenstein. (Germany, duchy of Silesia-Münsterberg-Oels, Albert and Charles, sons of Henry I of Münsterberg, 1498-1511, undated goldgulden, Reichenstein mint, for the mines. Obverse: St. James with hat, halo and mantle, standing, staff in his left hand, a shield between his feet; reverse: quartered arms over a long cross. Of the highest rarity, Very Fine-Extremely Fine.)"
The duchy is located in Silesia and fell to the Hapsburgs in the seventeenth century on the extinction of the line. Frederick the Great of Prussia seized Silesia in the 1740's but it is now part of Poland.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.25 g, 0.917 fine gold, this specimen 3.22 g.
Catalog reference: KM MB12, F.u.S. -. Friedensburg 743 a. Müseler 57.1/1. Fr-3223.
- 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.
- Nicol, N. Douglas, Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of German Coins, 1501-Present, 3rd ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2011.
- [1]Richter, Jürg, SINCONA Auction 100: SINCONA Jubilee Auction, Zurich: SINCONA AG, 2025.
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