Transylvania 1671-AC 10 ducats Fr-458
This specimen was lot 30494 in Heritage auction 3096 (Dallas, TX, March 2021), where it sold for $57,600. The catalog description[1] noted,
"Superb 10 Ducat of Transylvania as an Ottoman Vassal State. Michael I Apafi gold 10 Ducat 1671-AC AU53 NGC, Klausenburg mint. From a chaotic period of Transylvanian history, in which the balance of power was under continuous fluctuation. Having ruled Transylvania uncontested since 1662, Michael I Apafi maintained the independence of his principality against the Holy Roman Empire through alliances with Hungarian rebels and the Ottoman Empire until the Ottomans were defeated at the walls of Vienna in 1683. He was ultimately forced to conclude a treaty directly with Leopold I, completed just a few years before his death in 1690. This rare and doubtlessly imposing mid-reign gold issue features a bold strike and no shortage of luster in the fields. One of approximately 5 total representatives that we have been able to locate at auction in recent decades, with this mint-date combination entirely missing from Resch, though an example is present in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. From the Paramount Collection."
Michael Apafi was a Ottoman puppet in the three-way war between the Austrians, the Turks and the native elite. This rare issue was accompanied by a thaler (Dav-4793) and may have been struck from the same dies.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 35 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 34.01 g.
Catalog reference: KM-A416 (Rare), Fr-458, Horsky-5359, Montenuovo-1061, Husz-642, cf. Resch-83 (there, with AF initials).
- 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.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Adolf Resch, Siebenburgische Münzen und Medaillen von 1538 bis Gegenwart. Hermannstadt, 1901 (reprinted in Montreal, 1965).
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano and Warren Tucker, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Auction 3096, featuring the Paramount Collection of World & Ancient Coins, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2021.
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