Wurzburg 1601-SK 60 kreuzer
This specimen was lot 4444 in Künker sale 406 (Osnabruck, March 2024), where it sold for €1,600 (about US$2,099 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"WÜRZBURG, BISTUM, Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, 1573-1617. Guldentaler (60 Kreuzer) 1601, mit Titel Rudolfs II. Von großer Seltenheit. Henkelspur, Felder geglättet, sehr schön. (bishopric of Würzburg, Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, 1573-1617, gulden or sixty kreuzer of 1601, struck in the name of Rudolf II. Extremely rare, mount mark, fields tooled, very fine.)"
Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn was a leader of the Counter-Reformation, establishing many Jesuit schools in his diocese and rebuilding many churches. Sadly, most of his handiwork was destroyed by pillaging armies during the Thirty Years War. Prior to the war, the gulden of sixty kreuzer was five-sixths of a thaler.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 24,35 g.
Catalog reference: KM 5, Dav-152; Helmschrott 136.
- 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., Silver Gulden, 1559-1763, Frankfurt am Main, Numismatischer Verlag P. N. Schulten, 1982.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 406: Gold Coins | Coins and Medals from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. Löwenstein-Wertheim | German Coins after 1871, a. o. Patterns from the Coenen Collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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