Austria 1860-A 4 ducats Fr-485
This specimen was lot 3887 in Künker sale 406 (Osnabruck, March 2024), where it sold for €9,500 (about US$12,465 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"KAISERREICH ÖSTERREICH, Franz Josef I. 1848-1916. 4 Dukaten 1860, A, Wien. 13,76 g Feingold. GOLD. R Sehr schön-vorzüglich/vorzüglich. (empire of Austria, Francis Joseph I, 1848-1916, four ducats of 1860, Vienna mint. Rare, very fine to extremely fine.)"
This type was struck 1860-65 at Vienna (shown here) and Venice (mintmark "V"). It has the diameter of a thaler but is much thinner. It was never restruck, unlike the later type, so it remains scarce. This example realized over six times the catalog value.
Recorded mintage: 6,303.
Specification: 13.96 g, 0.986 fine gold.
Catalog reference: KM 2272, Fr-485; J. 331; Schl. 440.
- 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.
- Herinek, Gerhard, Austria Münzkatalog: Munzen ab 1745 und Banknoten ab 1759, 49. Auflage, Vienna: Christine Steyrer Verlag, 2022.
- Veselý, Roman, Mince a medaile, 19. století, František II ab Karel I, Prague: Aurea Numismatika, 2020.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [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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