Silesia-Liegnitz-Brieg 1654 ducat Fr-3200
This specimen was lot 260 in Künker sale 400 (Berlin, February 2024), where it sold for €18,000 (about US$23,352 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SCHLESIEN, LIEGNITZ-BRIEG, HERZOGTUM, Georg, Ludwig und Christian, 1639-1663. Dukat 1654, Brieg. GOLD. Seltener Jahrgang. Prachtexemplar. Fast Stempelglanz. Exemplar der westfälischen Privatsammlung „Mehrfachportraits auf Münzen und Medaillen". (Germany, Silesia, duchy of Liegnitz-Brieg, Georg, Louis and Christian, 1639-63, ducat of 1654, Brieg mint. Rare date, premium example, about uncirculated.)"
Silesia is considered a German State even tho the province was then under Austrian rule and is now in Poland. The three brothers issued a series of gold coins 1651-62, including five ducats (Fr-3196), four ducats (Fr-3197), triple ducat (Fr-3198), double ducat (Fr-3199), single ducat (Fr-3200, shown here) and half ducat (Fr-3201). Only the single ducat, struck 1651-62, is not obscenely expensive. The line lapsed in 1675.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.5 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 3.45 g.
Catalog reference: KM 401, Fr-3200; F. u. S. 1735.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 400: Selected löser of the Dukes of Guelph from the Friedrich Popken Collection | Numismatic treasures from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. "multiple portraits" from a Westphalian private collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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