Salzburg 1548 ducat Fr-604

Künker sale 384, lot 2572

This specimen was lot 2572 in Künker sale 384 (Osnabrück, March 2023), where it sold for €1,400 (about US$1,809 including buyer's fees). The catalog description^[1] noted,

"Ernst von Bayern, 1540-1554. Dukat 1548. GOLD. R Winz. Probierspur am Rand, min. gewellt, fast vorzüglich. Exemplar der Auktion Gießener Münzhandlung 29, München 1984, Nr. 186. (archbishopric of Salzburg, Ernest of Bavaria, 1540-54, ducat of 1548. Rare, small clip on the edge, slightly wavy, about extremely fine.)"

The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical state between Bavaria and Austria and usually ruled by a Hapsburg client. This type is listed for 1540-54, i.e., the archbishop's entire reign yet it remains scarce. Ernst was made archbishop without ever taking holy orders and finally abdicated in 1554 to Silesia after repeated deadlines from the pope. In the seventeenth century, Salzburg was blessed with a number of productive silver mines and the prince-archbishop was a prolific issuer of coins, particularly thalers. The archbishopric was secularized in 1803 and passed to Austria in 1813.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 3.50 g, 0.986 fine gold, this specimen 3.48 g.

Catalog reference: Fr-604; Probszt 349; Zöttl 384.

Source:

• 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.
• Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
• Helmut Zöttl, Salzburg Münzen und Medaillen, 1500-1810, 2 vols. Salzburg: Verlag Fruhwald, 2008.
• ^[1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 384: Münzen, Medaillen und Marken von Salzburg - Die Sammlung Professor Dr. Franz Schedel, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2023.

Link to:

• 1547 ducat
• 1547 double ducat
• 1548 double ducat
• 1549 double ducat
• 1551 ducat
• Coins and currency dated 1548