Saxony 1815-IGS 2/3 thaler
This specimen was lot 4304 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabruck, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €380 (about US$497 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SACHSEN, SACHSEN, KURFÜRSTENTUM. Friedrich August I. 1806-1827. 2/3 Taler (1/2 Konv.-Taler) 1815, IGS. Selten, besonders in dieser Erhaltung. Prachtexemplar. Fast Stempelglanz. (Germany, kingdom of Saxony, Frederick August I, 1806-27, two-thirds thaler of 1815. Scarce in this condition, cabinet piece, about uncirculated.)"
Friedrich August was a staunch ally of Napoleon and was rewarded by being promoted to king but he waited too long to switch sides after Napoleon's defeat, for which he was punished at the Congress of Vienna by the loss of half his territory. This type was struck 1806-17, all dates priced alike, fairly common. The last two-thirds thaler or gulden was struck in 1829. Although marked "⅔", it was worth only half a thaler.
Recorded mintage: 48,000.
Specification: 14.03 g, 0.833 fine, this specimen 14.00 g.
Catalog reference: KM 1052, AKS 32; J. 21.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- [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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