Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg 1717-IT 1/2 thaler
This specimen was lot 4523 in Künker sale 441 (Osnabrück, March 2026), where it sold for €480 (about US$660 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SACHSEN-GOTHA, HERZOGTUM, AB 1672 SACHSEN-GOTHA-ALTENBURG Friedrich II., 1691-1732. 1/2 Reichstaler 1717, Gotha, auf die 200-Jahrfeier der Reformation. Winz. Schrötlingsfehler, vorzüglich. (duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Frederick II, 1691-1732, half thaler of 1717, Gotha mint, for the bicentennial of the Reformation. Minor planchet defects, extremely fine.)"
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was created in 1672 when the duke of Saxe-Gotha inherited the duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, whose ruler had died without heirs. The two duchies were officially merged in 1680 and the new state remained intact until 1825. The SCWC notes almost no coinage for this state between the death of Frederick I (1691) and the series issued for the Reformation bicentennial, of which the half thaler appears here. A variety exists (KM 196) with the initial "W" on the truncation of the bust instead of "CW".
Recorded mintage: 864.
Specification: silver, this specimen 14,51 g.
Catalog reference: KM 195, Slg. Whiting 270; Steguweit 214; Slg. Opitz 2625.
- 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.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Frühjahrs-Auktion 441: Orders and Decorations from the Estate of Wilhelm, Duke of Bavaria (1752–1837), among others | Coins and Medals from the Middle Ages and Modern times, particularly Denmark, Habsburg, Norway, and Saxony, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2026.
Links:
- MDCCVII (1707)-IT thaler, on the death of the duke's brother Johann Wilhelm
- Saxe-Saalfeld 1717 groschen, bicentennial of the Reformation
- MDCCXVII (1717)-IT 1/12 thaler, bicentennial of the Reformation
- 1717-IT quarter thaler, bicentennial of the Reformation
- MDCCXVII (1717)-IT thaler, bicentennial of the Reformation
- Lubeck 1717 ducat, bicentennial of the Reformation
- Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1717-JCA thaler, bicentennial of the Reformation, temple reverse
- Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1717-JCA thaler, bicentennial of the Reformation, hill in forest reverse
- Nurnberg 1717-GFN ducat, bicentennial of the Reformation
- Regensburg 1717 ducat, bicentennial of the Reformation
- Saxe-Saalfeld 1717 thaler, bicentennial of the Reformation
- Stolberg 1717-IIG thaler, bicentennial of the Reformation
- 1719-IT pfennig
- 1723-K "family" thaler
- Coins and currency dated 1717