Salzburg 1699 1/4 thaler
This specimen was lot 2988 in Künker sale 384 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €600 (about US$775 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"Johann Ernst von Thun und Hohenstein, 1687-1709. 1/4 Reichstaler 1699, auf den Besuch des römischen Königs Josef I. und seiner Gemahlin Wilhelmine Amalie von Braunschweig-Lüneburg in Salzburg, anläßlich der Durchreise des Königspaares nach Wien. Verschlungenes Monogramm WAS (= Wilhelmina Amalia Sponsa), darüber Krone//Verschlungenes Monogramm IRS (= Josephus Rex Sponsus), darüber Krone. R Kl. Kratzer, sehr schön-vorzüglich. Exemplar der Auktion Bankhaus Partin 28, München 1989, Nr. 914. (archbishopric of Salzburg, John Ernest of Thun and Hohenstein, 1687-1709, quarter thaler of 1699, on the visit of the Roman king Joseph I and his wife Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Luneburg in Salzburg. Obverse: "WAS" monogram, crown above; reverse: "IRS" monogram, crown above. Rare, small scratches, very fine to extremely fine. This coin was thrown as largesse to the crowd after the festivities on the occasion of the imperial couple's visit to Salzburg.)"
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical state between Bavaria and Austria and usually ruled by a Hapsburg client. This "largesse" quarter thaler was accompanied by a ninth thaler and ducat which we show below. Joseph did not become emperor until 1705; his title of "king of the Romans" was equivalent to the British "prince of Wales". In the seventeenth century, Salzburg was blessed with a number of productive silver mines and the prince-archbishop was a prolific issuer of coins, particularly thalers. The archbishopric was secularized in 1803 and passed to Austria in 1814.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 7,36 g.
Catalog reference: KM unlisted, Probszt 1828; Zöttl 2155 (Type 1).
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Helmut Zöttl, Salzburg Münzen und Medaillen, 1500-1810, 2 vols. Salzburg: Verlag Fruhwald, 2008.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 384: Münzen, Medaillen und Marken von Salzburg - Die Sammlung Professor Dr. Franz Schedel, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2023.
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