Rothenburg 1717 2 ducats Fr-2599
This specimen was lot 2085 in Künker sale 352 (Osnabrück, Germany, September 2021), where it sold for €16,500 (about US$22,963 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER, STADT, 2 Dukaten 1717, Nürnberg, auf die 200-Jahrfeier der Reformation. GOLD. RR Prachtexemplar. Min. gewellt, fast Stempelglanz. Erworben 1937 bei der Firma Helbing, München. (Germany, city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, double ducat of 1717, Nuremberg mint, on the bicentennial of the Reformation. Rare, choice example, slightly wavy, about uncirculated. Bought from Helbing in 1937.)"
Rothenburg ob der Tauber was an imperial free city from the early Middle Ages that has spent the last five centuries slowing declining into quaintness. Her coinage in the eighteenth century comprises several ducats and this double ducat, all rare. Wedged between Hohenlohe and Brandenburg-Ansbach, she was annexed by Bavaria in 1803. It is now a tourist destination for Christmas trinkets.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 7.00 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 6,46 g.
Catalog reference: KM 7, Fr-2599; Slg. Erlanger 2136; Slg. Whiting 239.
- 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.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Künker Auktion 352: Die Sammlung Hermann Schwarz: Faszination des gepragten Goldes. Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2021.
Link to:
- Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst 1717 6 pfennig, bicentennial of the Reformation
- 1717 ducat, bicentennial of the Reformation
- Coins and currency dated 1717