Transylvania 1637 thaler

from the Stack's Bowers 2018 NYINC sale, lot 21409

This specimen was lot 21409 in Stack's Bowers 2018 NYINC sale (New York, January 2018), where it sold for $1,920. The catalog description^[1] noted, "TRANSYLVANIA. Taler, 1637. George Rakoczi I (1630-48). PCGS AU-53 Secure Holder. A VERY RARE Transylvanian imitation of a lion daalder of Utrecht (Dav-4864). The first we have offered and the first appearance in any sale since 2008. Good strike on a nice round flan with full legends on both sides, lustrous and quite attractive." 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. Dynastic squabbles between the Bethlens and the Rakoczis fomented turmoil. The Hapsburgs reconquered Hungary from the Turks in the 1680's and ended Transylvanian autonomy. This type is listed in the SCWC for 1638 only as an imitation of a Overijssel daalder, which it could be, as Overijssel marked her coins "TRAN" and Utrecht "TRA" or "TRAI".

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: silver.

Catalog reference: cf. KM 240, cf. Dav-4864.

Source:

• Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
• ^[1]Ponterio, Richard, Kyle Ponterio, John Kraljevich and Cris Chatigny, The January 2018 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Eldorado Collection of Colombian and Ecuadorian Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2017.
• Adolf Resch, Siebenburgische Münzen und Medaillen von 1538 bis Gegenwart. Hermannstadt, 1901 (reprinted in Montreal, 1965).

Link to:

• 1629 thaler
• 1630-CV ducat
• 1636 ducat, George Rakoczi, Klausenburg mint
• 1637 quarter thaler
• 1645-NB thaler
• 1646 ducat
• Coins and currency dated 1637
• return to coins of Transylvania