Transylvania 1556-NP denar
This specimen was lot 1186 in Steve Album Auction 51 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2025), where it sold for $264. The catalog description[1] noted, "TRANSYLVANIA: János Zsigmond, 1540-1571, AR denar, 1556-NP, arms within beaded circle with IOAN SECVN D G R VN around // Madonna and Child with N and P flanking, all within beaded circle with PATRONA VNGARIE around, toned, PCGS graded MS62." The princes of Transylvania were sandwiched between the Ottoman Empire to the south and the Hapsburg dominions to the west and attempted to maintain independence from both. The extreme anarchy in the region often allowed them to get away with this. This issue of 1556-58 is a product of the Nagybánya mint. One thaler was 252 denars.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specifications: 0.63 g, silver, 14.6 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: Resch-6.
- Adolf Resch, Siebenburgische Münzen und Medaillen von 1538 bis Gegenwart. Hermannstadt, 1901 (reprinted in Montreal, 1965).
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 51, featuring the Howard Daniel III Collection of Asian Coins, the Almer H. Orr III Collection of World Coins and the Joe Sedillot Collection of German Coins, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2024.
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