Transylvania 1657-AI ducat Fr-398
This specimen was lot 6296 in Künker sale 336 (Osnabrück, Germany, March 2020), where it sold for €4,000 (about US$5,235 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"SIEBENBÜRGEN, FÜRSTEN, Georg Rakoczi II. 1648-1660. Dukat 1657, AI, Weißenburg. Geharnischtes Hüftbild r. mit Kalpag (Pelzmütze), mit der Rechten das Zepter schulternd, die Linke am Schwertgriff//Auf einer Leiste stehender, gekrönter Adler mit Schwert in den Fängen, darunter sieben Burgen auf Leiste und Zackenkreuz zwischen zwei Punkten. GOLD. RR Leicht gewellt, Kratzer, sehr schön. Exemplar der Auktion Dorotheum 246, Wien 1961, Nr. 89. (principality of Transylvania, George Rakoczi II, 1648-60, ducat of 1657, Weissenburg mint. Obverse: armored half-length bust right with fur cap and scepter and sword; reverse: crowned eagle with a sword in its claws. Rare, slightly bent, scratches, very fine.)"
The SCWC lists four different ducats (KM 298, 299, 300, A300) for 1657, all rare. 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.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.50 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 3.47 g.
Catalog reference: KM A300, Fr-398; Resch 117.
- 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 336: Gold coins from all over the World|German Coins after 1871. Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2020.
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