Werden and Helmstedt 1647 ducat Fr-3510
This specimen was lot 3776 in Künker sale 294 (Osnabruck, Germany, July 2017), where it sold for €8,000 (about US$10,783 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"WERDEN UND HELMSTEDT, ABTEI, Heinrich IV. Dücker, 1646-1667. Dukat 1647. Mit Mitra bedecktes, vierfeldiges Wappen mit Mittelschild, dahinter zwei Krummstäbe gekreuzt//Fünf Zeilen Schrift, umher Lorbeer- und Palmzweig. GOLD. Sehr schön +. (abbey of Werden and Helmstadt, Henry IV, 1646-67, ducat of 1647. Quartered arms with miter and croziers; reverse: five line inscription, laurel and palm wreath around. Very fine or better.)"
Werden and Helmstaedt were two widely separated abbeys in Germany; Werden in the Ruhr valley on the border of the duchy of Berg and Helmstaedt in the duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. A series of very rare thalers (Dav-5918 thru -5931) were struck for them in the seventeenth century. This is the only gold issue for this locality in the seventeenth century. They were annexed by Prussia in 1803.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.5 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 3.41 g.
Catalog reference: KM 40, Fr-3510; Grote 36.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]Künker Münzauktionen und Goldhandel, Katalog 294: Goldprägungen | Deutsche Münzen ab 1871 | Russische Münzen und Medaillen, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2017.
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