Transylvania 1652-NB 10 ducats Fr-394
This specimen was lot 3369 in Künker sale 264 (Osnabrück, June 2015), where it sold for €16,000 (about US$20,669 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SIEBENBÜRGEN, FÜRSTEN Georg Rakoczi II. 1648-1660. 10 Dukaten 1652, NB, Nagybánya. · GEOR · RAKO - D · G · PRI · T · Geharnischtes Hüftbild r. mit Kalpag (Pelzmütze), mit der Rechten das Zepter schulternd, die Linke am Schwertgriff//· PAR · REG · HVN · DOM · ET · SIC · COM · 165Z · Gekröntes und verziertes siebenbürgisches Wappen mit dem Familienwappen Rakoczi als Mittelschild, unten zu den Seiten das Münzstättenzeichen N - B. GOLD. Von großer Seltenheit. Leichte Fassungs- und Bearbeitungsspuren, sehr schön. (principality of Transylvania, George Rakoczi II, 1648-60, ten ducats of 1652, Nagybánya mint. Obverse: armored bust in fur hat holding scepter in right hand; reverse: crowned and quartered arms of Transylvania with Rakoczi arms on central escutcheon dividing mintmark. Very rare, lightly tooled, very fine.)"
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 Hapsburgs reconquered Hungary from the Turks in the 1680's and ended Transylvanian autonomy. Unlike many Transylvanian ducats, this type was struck multiple years (1652-55).
Recorded mintage: unknown but few.
Specification: 35 g, 0.986 fine gold, 1.11 troy oz AGW, this specimen 34.73 g.
Catalog reference: KM 287, Fr-394; Resch 54.
- 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]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Catalog 264, Gold coins | Russian Coins and Medals | German Coins after 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2015.
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