Schlick (1526) 1/2 thaler KM-MB13
This specimen was lot 416 in Künker sale 400 (Berlin, February 2024), where it sold for €2,600 (about US$3,373 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"DIE ÖSTERREICHISCHEN STANDESHERREN, SCHLICK, GRAFSCHAFT, Stephan, Burian, Heinrich, Hieronymus und Lorenz, 1505-1532. 1/2 Taler o. J. Joachimstal, mit Titel Ludwigs II. König von Ungarn und Böhmen. Ausbeute der Joachimstaler Gruben. RR Feine Patina, kl. Henkelspur, sehr schön +. (Austrian states, county of Schlick, Stephan, Burian, Henry, Jerome und Laurence, 1505-32, undated half thaler, Joachimsthal mint, struck in the name of Louis II, king of Hungary and Bohemia, for the Joachimsthal mines. Very rare, fine patina, small mount mark, choice very fine.)"
In the mid-fifteenth century, large deposits of silver were discovered in the Alps and Carpathian mountains. At the same time, the screw press, originally invented to crush grapes, was adapted to minting, enabling the production of large coins. Thus the guldiner (later called the thaler) was born. The counts of Schlick were the original proprietors of the mint at Joachimsthal, where the first "thalers" were struck. Minor coinage exists but is rare. This half thaler comes in two varieties: KM MB13 (arms at lower left, shown here) and KM MB14 (arms at bottom).
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver, this specimen 14,45 g.
Catalog reference: KM MB13, Donebauer 3748 var.
- Craig, William D., Germanic Coinages: Charlemagne through Wilhelm II, Mountain View, CA: 1954.
- Nicol, N. Douglas, Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of German Coins, 1501-Present, 3rd ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2011.
- [1]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 400: Selected löser of the Dukes of Guelph from the Friedrich Popken Collection | Numismatic treasures from the Medieval and Modern Times, a. o. "multiple portraits" from a Westphalian private collection, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2024.
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