Salzburg 1797-M 1/2 thaler
This specimen was lot 4662 in Künker sale 406 (Osnabrück, March 2024), where it sold for €260 (about US$341 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"DIE GEISTLICHKEIT IN DEN HABSBURGISCHEN ERBLANDEN, SALZBURG, Hieronymus von Colloredo, 1772-1803. 1/2 Konv.-Taler 1797. In US-Plastikholder der NGC mit der Bewertung MS 61 (6643585-003). Feine Patina, vorzüglich/vorzüglich-Stempelglanz. (archbishopric of Salzburg, Jerome of Colloredo, 1772-1803, half convention thaler of 1797. Graded NGC MS-61, fine patina, extremely fine to uncirculated.)"
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical state between Bavaria and Austria and usually ruled by a Hapsburg client. This type was struck 1787, 1792, 1797 and 1802 and is not common. 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: 14.03 g, 0.833 fine silver, this specimen 13.88 g.
Catalog reference: KM 461; Zöttl 3258.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- 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 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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