Saxony 1763-FWoF 1/2 thaler KM-960
This specimen was lot 4299 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabruck, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €900 (about US$1,178 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SACHSEN, SACHSEN, KURFÜRSTENTUM. Friedrich Christian, 1763. 2/3 Taler (1/2 Konv.-Taler) 1763, Dresden. Prachtexemplar. Herrliche Patina, winz. Schrötlingsfehler am Rand, fast Stempelglanz. (Germany, electorate of Saxony, Frederick Christian, 1763. Two-third thaler of 1763, Dresden mint. Cabinet piece, beautiful patina, small edge nick, about uncirculated.)"
Altho this is listed as a two-thirds thaler (probably because of the conspicuous "⅔" on the reverse), the weight is that of a half convention thaler ("XX. EINE FEINE MARCK") and we are listing it here as such. As the reichs thaler was superseded by the convention thaler, the thaler was revalued from ninety kreuzer to 120 kreuzer. The gulden, fixed at sixty kreuzer, therefore slipped from two-thirds thaler, its value in the seventeenth century, to half a thaler. Another such coin, with two shields on the reverse (KM 959), is reported for 1763.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 14.03 g, 0.833 fine silver, this specimen 13.99 g.
Catalog reference: KM 960, Buck 3, Dav-831.
- Davenport, John S., Silver Gulden, 1559-1763, Frankfurt am Main, Numismatischer Verlag P. N. Schulten, 1982.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Catalog 335: Bracteates from Upper Swabia and the area of the Lake Constance | Coins and Medals from Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. the Dr. Karl Walter Bach Collection of coins of the Austrian nobility, Special collections of Bavaria, Lubeck, Wurttemberg as well as siege coins from the Eberhard Link Collection. Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2020.
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