Wurttemberg-Oels 1696-IN thaler Dav-7899
This specimen was lot 288 in Künker sale 400 (Berlin, February 2024), where it sold for €20,000 (about US$25,946 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"WÜRTTEMBERG-OELS, HERZOGTUM, Sylvius Friedrich, 1664-1697. Reichstaler 1696, IN, Bernstadt, auf den 40. Geburtstag seiner Gemahlin Eleonore Charlotte. Brustbilder Sylvius Friedrichs und seiner Gemahlin nebeneinander r.//Stadtansicht von Oels, oben strahlender Name Jehovas. Von größter Seltenheit. Hübsche Patina, sehr schön +. Exemplar der westfälischen Privatsammlung „Mehrfachportraits auf Münzen und Medaillen". (Germany, duchy of Württemberg-Oels, Sylvius Frederick, 1664-97, thaler of 1696, Bernstadt mint, on the 40th birthday of his wife Eleonore Charlotte. Obverse: conjoined busts of the duke and his wife right; reverse: city view below the radiant name of Jehovah. Extremely rare, handsome patina, very fine or better.)
Herzog Sylvius Friedrich heiratete am 7. Mai 1672 in Oels Eleonore Charlotte (*1656; †1743), Tochter des Herzogs Georg II. von Württemberg-Mömpelgard. Die Ehe blieb kinderlos und Sylvius Friedrich starb 1697, ohne einen Erben zu hinterlassen. Auf Anordnung von Sylvius Friedrichs Mutter fiel Oels an ihren nächstjüngeren Sohn Christian Ulrich I. (Duke Sylvius Friedrich married Eleonore Charlotte (1656-1743), daughter of Duke George II of Württemberg-Mömpelgard, on May 7, 1672 in Oels. The marriage remained childless and Sylvius Friedrich died in 1697 without leaving an heir. On the orders of Sylvius Friedrich's mother, Oels passed to her next younger son, Christian Ulrich I.)"
The dukes of Württemberg-Oels were a cadet branch of the dukes of Württemberg who set themselves up in Silesia (Oels is northeast of Breslau) in 1647 and ruled there until 1792.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 27,60 g.
Catalog reference: KM 67, Dav-7899; F. u. S. 2344; Klein/Raff 19.
- 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.
- Davenport, John S., German Secular Talers, 1600-1700, Frankfurt: Numismatischer Verlag, 1976.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 400: Selected löser of the Dukes of Guelph from the Friedrich Popken Collection | Numismatic treasures from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. "multiple portraits" from a Westphalian private collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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