Sweden 1716-LC ducat Fr-50
This specimen was lot 653 in Künker sale 400 (Berlin, February 2024), where it sold for €4,000 (about US$5,189 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SCHWEDEN, KÖNIGREICH, Karl XII. 1697-1718. Dukat 1716, Stockholm. GOLD. R Sehr schön-vorzüglich. (kingdom of Sweden, Charles XII, 1697-1718, ducat of 1718, Stockholm mint, ducat of 1716, Stockholm mint. Rare, very fine to extremely fine.)"
Charles XII, an unbalanced military genius, took on Russia, Poland and Denmark simultaneously in the Great Northern War. Despite many spectacular victories, he lost and ended up a prisoner of the Turks. Sweden was bankrupted and lost all pretension to being a Great Power. This rare type was issued 1712-17 as Sweden was losing.
Recorded mintage: 7,828.
Specification: 3.50 g, 0.917 fine gold, this specimen 3.47 g.
Catalog reference: KM 350, Fr-50; SM (2022) 18.
- Bjorne Ahlström, Yngve Almer and Bengt Hemmingson, Sveriges Mynt, 1521-1977, the Coinage of Sweden. Stockholm: Numismatika Bokforlaget AB, 1976.
- Delzanno, Roberto, Myntårsboken 2022, Sveriges Mynt 995-2021, 1:a upplagen, Stockholm, 2021.
- 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.
- 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, 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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