Munsterberg-Oels 1519 goldgulden Fr-3226
This specimen was lot 3822 in Künker sale 264 (Osnabrück, June 2015), where it sold for €2,800 (about US$3,617 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"MÜNSTERBERG-OELS, HERZOGTUM Karl I. 1511-1536. Goldgulden 1519, Reichenstein. Ausbeute der Reichensteiner Gruben. GOLD. Von großer Seltenheit. Attraktives, sehr schönes Exemplar. (Germany, duchy of Munsterberg-Oels, Charles I, 1511-36, gold gulden of 1519, Reichenstein mint, for the mines. Very rare, attractive very fine.)
Die Reichensteiner Gruben brachten die bedeutendsten Goldvorkommen Schlesiens hervor. Der erste urkundliche Hinweis auf den Reichensteiner Bergbau liegt aus dem Jahr 1273 vor. Seit Beginn des 15. Jahrhunderts befanden sich die Gruben im Besitz der Münsterberger Herzöge. Der Bergbau wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit bedeutenden Handelshäusern der Zeit wie den Fuggern und Welsern betrieben. Zu Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts begannen die Herzöge von Münsterberg-Oels mit der Prägung von Ausbeutemünzen aus Reichensteiner Gold, die auf der Rückseite den ausdrücklichen Hinweis auf die Herkunft des Metalls tragen. (The mines of Reichenstein were the most significant gold deposits of Silesia. The first written reference to the Reichensteiner mining is from the year 1273. Since the beginning of the 15th century, the mines were owned by the Münsterberger dukes. The mining was financed by major trading houses of the time like the Fugger and Welser. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Dukes of Münsterberg-Oels began minting of coins from Reichensteiner gold with the express indication of the origin of the metal.)"
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. This type is listed for 1510-19.
Recorded mintage: unknown but rare.
Specification: 3.5 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 3,13 g.
Catalog reference: Fr-3226; F. u. S. -; Müseler Nachtrag 57.1/7.
- 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]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Catalog 264, Gold coins | Russian Coins and Medals | German Coins after 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2015
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