Prussia 1775-A thaler Dav-2590
This specimen was lot 3742 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabrück, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €420 (about US$550 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BRANDENBURG-PREUSSEN, PREUSSEN, KÖNIGREICH, Friedrich II. der Große, 1740-1786. Reichstaler preuß. 1775, A, Berlin. Hübsche Patina, fast vorzüglich. (Germany, kingdom of Prussia, Frederick II, 1740-86, thaler of 1775, Berlin mint. Handsome patina, about extremely fine.)"
This type was struck at Berlin (shown here), Breslau and Königsberg 1775-86. These coins saw hard use and are frequently found heavily worn. As they were only 0.750 fine, they were spent and the issues of other principalities hoarded. Frederick the Great emerged victorious from the Seven Years War but it was a very near thing, with only the death of the empress Elizabeth in 1761 saving Prussia from utter destruction. Having established Prussia as a major power, he eschewed further wars of aggression.
Recorded mintage: 505,292.
Specification: 22.27 g, 0.750 fine silver, this specimen 22.08 g.
Catalog reference: KM 332.1, Dav-2590; Olding 70; Kluge 122.1.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Davenport, John S., German Talers, 1700-1800, 2nd Ed., London: Spink & Son, 1965.
- [1]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Catalog 335: Bracteates from Upper Swabia and the area of the Lake Constance | Coins and Medals from Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. the Dr. Karl Walter Bach Collection of coins of the Austrian nobility, Special collections of Bavaria, Lubeck, Wurttemberg as well as siege coins from the Eberhard Link Collection. Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2020.
Link to: