Schwarzburg-Sondershausen 1764-HC AS 1/4 thaler
This specimen was lot 4385 in Künker sale 335 (Osnabruck, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €750 (about US$982 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SCHWARZBURG, SCHWARZBURG-SONDERSHAUSEN, GRAFSCHAFT. Christian Günther III. 1758-1794. 1/4 Konv.-Taler 1764, Sondershausen. R Sehr schön. (Germany, county of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Christian Gunther, 1758-94, quarter thaler of 1764, Sondershausen mint. Scarce, very fine.)"
Altho this is listed as a one-third thaler (probably because of the conspicuous "⅓" on the reverse), the weight is that of a quarter convention thaler ("XL. 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 As the reichs thaler was superseded by the convention thaler, the thaler was revalued from ninety kreuzer to 120 kreuzer.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 half gulden, fixed at thirty kreuzer, therefore slipped from one-third thaler, its value in the seventeenth century, to a quarter thaler. This scarce type was accompanied by a groschen (KM 128), double groschen (KM 129, 130), gulden (KM 136) and a thaler (Dav-2767).
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 7.01 g, 0.833 fine silver, this specimen 6.94 g.
Catalog reference: KM 132, Fischer 403.
- 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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