Transylvania 1630-CV ducat Fr-373
This specimen was lot 21408 in Stack's Bowers 2018 NYINC sale (New York, January 2018), where it sold for $2,160. The catalog description[1] noted, "TRANSYLVANIA. Ducat, 1630-CV. Stephen Bethlen (1630). NGC VF-35. Weak in the centers, especially on the prince's beard but a presentable example. Our first offering of this type." 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. Dynastic squabbles between the Bethlens and the Rakoczis fomented turmoil. Stephen Bethlen, brother of the late Gabriel Bethlen, was prince of Transylvania for two months before abdicating. The Hapsburgs reconquered Hungary from the Turks in the 1680's and ended Transylvanian autonomy. This type is listed for 1630 only.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.5 g, 0.986 fine gold, .110 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Fr-373; KM-223; Huszár 472; Resch 1.
- 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.
- Adolf Resch, Siebenburgische Münzen und Medaillen von 1538 bis Gegenwart. Hermannstadt, 1901 (reprinted in Montreal, 1965).
- [1]Ponterio, Richard, Kyle Ponterio, John Kraljevich and Cris Chatigny, The January 2018 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Eldorado Collection of Colombian and Ecuadorian Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2017.
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