Brunswick-Luneburg-Celle 1650 4 thalers Dav-LS149

photo courtesy Stack's

This specimen was lot 663 in Stack's "Vermuele, Ward & Mexico Maxico" sale (New York, January 2010), where it sold for $6,900. The catalog description^[1] noted,

"GERMAN STATES. BRUNSWICK-LÜNEBURG-CELLE. Christian Ludwig, 1648-1665. 4 Taler, 1650 LW. Crowned 'CL' in circle of 14 shields, SINCERE ET CONSTANTER, '4' punch in small cartouche at 6:00. Rv. Arm from cloud crowns White Horse, pastoral scene of haying and sheep herding below. A trifle softly struck, horse shows three separate impressions of the dies. Diffused gray toning. Overall Very Fine."

This enormous coin (about 80 mm diameter) is too large to be pictured in the SCWC and is very rare. The Duchy of Brunswick was divided and subdivided in the seventeenth century but was eventually reassembled as the Kingdom of Hannover before being absorbed into Prussia in 1866.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 115 g, silver, about 3.7 troy oz.

Catalog reference: Dav-LS 149, KM 223.1.

Source:

• ^[1]Kraljevich, John, and Frank Van Valen, The Vermuele, Ward & Mexico Maxico Collections, New York: Stack's, 2009.
• Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
• Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
• Davenport, John S., Large Size Silver Coins of the World, 16th-19th Centuries, 3rd Ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1991.

Link to:

• 1648 triple thaler
• 1648-HS quadruple thaler
• 1648-HS 5 thaler
• 1650-HS thaler, wild man reverse
• 1650-LW thaler, leaping stallion reverse
• 1650 ducat
• Brunswick-Luneburg-Calenberg 1650-HS thaler Dav-6527
• 1656 thaler
• Coins and currency dated 1650