Orange 1618 1/2 franc
This specimen was lot 4714 in Künker sale 406 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €320 (about US$420 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"FRANKREICH/FEODALES, ORANGE, Philippe Guillaume Nassau, 1584-1618. 1/2 Franc 1618. In US-Plastikholder der NGC mit der Bewertung XF DETAILS TOOLED (6635705-007). Von großer Seltenheit. Reinigungsspuren, sehr schön. Exemplar der Auktion Westfälische Auktionsgesellschaft 62, Dortmund 2012, Nr. 1493 (dort "scheint unediert"). (French states, principality of Orange, Philip William of Nassau, 1584-1618, half franc of 1618. Graded NGC XF Details Tooled, extremely rare, cleaned, very fine.)"
The SCWC lists this type for 1617 only. Later half francs (KM 43.1) were struck in the name of Maurice. The princes of Orange were also counts of Nassau and later stadtholders of the Netherlands. As such they were allies of France in the struggle against Spain, but during the reign of Louis XIV, the Netherlands and France came into conflict. Louis XIV occupied Orange in 1672 and annexed it in 1702. The French half franc this coin imitated was 7.09 g, 0.833 fine silver.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: KM 20 (unlisted date), Voûte/van der Wiel 24 B/a; Duplessy 2148.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 406: Gold Coins | Coins and Medals from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. Löwenstein-Wertheim | German Coins after 1871, a. o. Patterns from the Coenen Collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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