Salzburg 1715 1/2 ducat Fr-845

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Künker sale 384, lot 3025

This specimen was lot 3025 in Künker sale 384 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €1,100 (about US$1,422 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,

"Franz Anton von Harrach, 1709-1727. 1/2 Dukat 1715. GOLD. R Prachtexemplar. Vorzüglich-Stempelglanz. (archbishopric of Salzburg, Francis Anthony of Harrach, 1709-27, half ducat of 1715. Rare, outstanding example, extremely fine to uncirculated.)"

Franz Anton stammte aus dem alten böhmisch-österreichischen Geschlecht Harrach und wurde am 2. Oktober 1665 in Madrid geboren, wo sein Vater kaiserlicher Gesandter war. Schon als Kind für seine Frömmigkeit bekannt, wurde er auf Betreiben des fast erblindeten Salzburger Erzbischofs Johann Ernst von Thun und Hohenstein am 19. Oktober 1705 im Alter von 40 Jahren zu dessen Koadjutor ernannt und trat nach dem Tod Johann Ernsts 1709 dessen Nachfolge an. Franz Anton liebte Prunk, galt aber auch als wohltätig und guter Landesvater, seinen Bediensteten gegenüber als geradezu höflich. Schon seine Zeitgenossen sprachen von seiner Regentschaft als den "goldenen Harrachzeiten". Sparsamkeit zählte nicht zu seinen großen Tugenden, er beschäftigte mit großem finanziellen Aufwand Architekten, Bildhauer und Maler. Gleichzeitig setzte er aber auch die von seinem Vorgänger Johann Ernst intensiv betriebene Förderung der Wirtschaft und des Handels fort, insbesondere im Straßenbau nach Süden über die Alpen, um die Verbindungen mit Venedig und dem Mittelmeerraum zu stärken. Am 18. Juli 1727 starb Franz Anton unerwartet im Alter von 62 Jahren. (Franz Anton came from the old Bohemian-Austrian family of Harrach and was born on October 2, 1665 in Madrid, where his father was an imperial envoy. Already known as a child for his piety, he was appointed coadjutor on October 19, 1705 at the age of 40 at the instigation of the almost blind Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun und Hohenstein. Franz Anton loved pomp, but was also considered a benevolent and good father of his country, and downright polite to his servants. Even his contemporaries spoke of his reign as the "golden times of Harrach". Thrift was not one of his great virtues, he employed architects, sculptors and painters at great expense. At the same time, however, he continued the promotion of the economy and trade intensively pursued by his predecessor Johann Ernst, especially in the construction of roads to the south across the Alps in order to strengthen connections with Venice and the Mediterranean region. Franz Anton died unexpectedly on July 18, 1727 at the age of 62.)"

The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical state between Bavaria and Austria and usually ruled by a Hapsburg client. This type was struck 1709, 1715 and 1720-22. Unlike the ducat, the archbishop issued no half ducats with his portrait. 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: 1.75 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 1.70 g.

Catalog reference: KM 298, Fr-845; Probszt 1980; Zöttl 2375 (Type 2).

Source:

  • Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
  • 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.
  • 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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