Cover picture by Alonso Sánchez Coello, Philip II, King of Spain (1556-1598), c. 1570, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. Wikipedia, public domain. Lot 682, Page
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Ulrich Künker
Dear Customers and Coin Enthusiasts,
As is the case every year, the beginning of this year is full of highlights at Künker, such as our traditional participation in the New York coin fair (NYINC) and, of course, our Berlin Auction 418, with which we will give the starting signal for the World Money Fair at the Berlin Hotel Estrel on 29 January 2025. The following pages will give you an overview of our auction offerings, which once again include many high-carat objects and collections, including the minted history of the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia (about which Prof. Johannes Nollé provides special insights on pages 52 to 56), a unique ensemble of socalled Gnadenpfennige (“mercy pennies”), highlights of medal art, as well as a mystery of Jewish numismatics – and many other highlights. We look forward to your visit to Osnabrück, starting today, or in Berlin, beginning on 27 January.
From Thursday, 30 January, to Saturday, 1 February, we will cordially welcome you to our booth at the World Money Fair. We will have numerous coins and medals from our stock available for sale there. We will also be happy to advise you on the sale of individual pieces – or your entire collection – through our auctions. We look forward to welcoming many visitors to our booth! Please note the new hours of the World Money Fair from Thursday through Saturday. We present all the new features the trade fair has to offer in this issue on pages 57 through 59.
We wish you a Happy and, above all, a healthy New Year. We hope you had a wonderful holiday season! We want to take this opportunity at the beginning of the year to express our gratitude for your loyalty and your numismatic interest in what we do. This makes us very happy. We are also delighted to have such great employees who work at Künker with such dedication.
As you’ve probably already noticed, this new edition of Künker Exklusiv is a bit more compact, more clearly laid out, and features our new colour scheme. We’ve tried to make our corporate image fresher, brighter, and more inviting. After some consideration we’ve also modernised our logo. We hope you like the new look as much as we do.
Our eLive Auction 86 will take place beginning on Monday, 3 March 2025, and our numismatists Julia Fesca and Rebecca Schuffenhauer present it to you in more detail on pages 18 to 21 (“Ludwig I of Bavaria’s History Thalers”) and 47 to 51 (“1,000 Years of Coin History – a Special Collection of Byzantine Coins”).
As part of our popular series “Coin Cabinets Around the World”, this time we visit the Portuguese capital Lisbon, where the Bank of Portugal has a coin museum in a prime location.
Last but not least, we would also like to share with you in this issue of Künker Exklusiv a lecture by Prof. Johannes Nollé, which he presented in Osnabrück in November 2024 at our Ancient Coins Auction 416: The collection of Dr Eike Druckrey offered a large number of coins with depictions of horses, which Prof. Nollé describes in more detail on pages 22 through 35.
We hope you enjoy this new issue of Künker Exklusiv and our selection in the Berlin auction on 29 January 2025!
Dr. Andreas Kaiser Ulrich Künker
We begin the numismatic year 2025 with a bang!
On Wednesday, 29 January 2025, we will open the numismatic year in Germany with a dramatic event: 701 lots with a total estimate of ten million euros will come under the hammer of our auctioneers at the World Money Fair in Berlin.
701 lots with a total estimate of ten million euros: These are the key figures of what we call our Berlin Auction 418 – which, as it is every year in January, will be held during the World Money Fair, the world’s largest coin fair. Highlights from some collections will be called out. You can look forward to rarities from the time of the Thirty Years’ War and from the world of medals. The spectrum ranges from a portrait penny of Charlemagne to large gold coins, “gnadenpfennige” and a numismatic enigma with a Jewish inscription. No matter what you collect, it’s worth studying our catalogue 418. For anyone who loves coins, it is always a pleasure to see such rare pieces in such perfect condition.
Geprägte Geschichte des Dreißigjährigen Krieges und des Westfälischen Friedens
Die Sammlung eines deutschen Fabrikanten und Geschichtsfreundes, Teil 2
Numismatische Raritäten aus aller Welt
u. a. Glanzpunkte der Medaillenkunst sowie Spitzenstücke aus einer nordeuropäischen Privatsammlung
Auktion 418 29. Januar 2025 in Berlin
For auction catalog 418 and a detailed auction overview simply scan the adjacent QR code
Coins that shaped the history of the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia
Our auction begins with the second part of the collection of a German factory owner and history enthusiast, consisting of coins and medals from the time of the Thirty Years’ War. The first part was auctioned with great success in Osnabrück. The 436 lots were estimated at 4.25 million euros but in fact brought 7.5 million euros. That was no great surprise for connoisseurs: Perfectlypreserved gold coins and multiple thalers are currently fetching top prices. It would therefore not be surprising if the outstanding pieces in the collection which are now being offered in the second part should bring significantly more than their estimate of 3.3 million euros.
Connoisseurs will appreciate the many rarities, multiple thalers, and multiple ducats. They give every author of a preliminary report the agony of choice, as to what to present! But let’s make it easy for ourselves: We’ll allow some pictures speak for themselves.
Albrecht von Wallenstein. 10 ducats, 1631, Jitschin.
Very rare. Extremely fine.
Estimate: 100,000 euros
A unique ensemble of gnadenpfennigs
Lot 13
Sweden. Gustav II Adolph, 1611-1632. 1631 gnadenpfennig. From the collection of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg. Estimate: 75,000 euros
In numismatics, gnadenpfennigs are a group of heavy gold pieces that were reworked into an elaborate, contemporary setting to be worn on a chain or hat. Such gnadenpfennigs were decorations that princes gave to their important officials and advisors. To possess a gnadenpfennig from one or more rulers was a coveted privilege and status symbol, especially among the imperial knighthood. That is why they liked to be depicted with them in portraits. Few of these precious jewels have actually survived. No wonder: They were objects of daily use and therefore subject to a certain amount of wear and tear. In addition, they lost much of their prestige after the death of the prince depicted on them. Many may therefore have been melted down at a later date. Only a few have survived to this day. We are proud to be able to offer several of them at our Berlin auction. Here are a few selected examples.
Lot 32
German States / Bavaria. Maximilian I, 1598-1651. Gnadenpfennig n.d. (1623).
Estimate: 25,000 euros
This piece is not a “gnadenpfennig” in the strict sense of the word, but rather a badge of loyalty, probably made after the death of King Philip II. It follows in the tradition of the “geusenpfennigs”. These are badges that show the portrait of the Spanish King on the front and a beggar’s bag on the back, with two hands in a handshake above it. The geusenpfennigs are to be understood as a mocking medal with their inscription (in translation): “Everything for the king, even a beggar’s bag.”
The piece offered here differs significantly from this. It does not show a beggar’s bag on the back, but an elaborately designed vase with floral ornaments and no inscription. One may wonder whether this piece does not adopt the obverse inscription of the geusenpfennigs in order to turn their actual message into a positive one, thus converting the mocking confession to King Philip II into one that is actually meant.
Lot 682
Spain. Felipe II, 1556-1598. Gnadenpfennig (probably created later).
From the collection of Baron Albert von Goldschmidt-Rothschild.
Estimate: 25,000 euros
Rarities in gold and silver from around the world
204
German States. Hamburg. Portugalöser of 10 ducats n.d. (1578-1582). Very rare. Almost extremely fine.
Estimate: 75,000 euros
Regardless of what special category you collect, our Auction 418 offers you the coin that is missing as a highlight of your collection. The selection ranges from Charlemagne to Elizabeth II of England. The treasures come from Old Germany, Europe, Asia and the United States of America, and all have two things in common: They are extremely rare and they are in above-average condition.
343
German States. Nuremberg. 6 ducats 1698 to the 50th anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia. Very rare. Extremely fine to FDC. Estimate: 100,000 euros
Lot 233
German States. Paderborn. Hermann Werner von Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht, 1683-1703. 6 ducats 1694, Neuhaus. Extremely rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 125,000 euros
Leopold I., 1657-1705. 10 ducats 1678 (Year in dies changed from 1676), IAN, Graz. With incised value number “X” in the field on the averse, extremely fine.
France. Louis XV, 1715-1774. Pattern for the écu au bandeau, 1740, Paris. Very rare. NGC PF62 CAMEO. Proof. Estimate: 125,000 euros
Lot
Lot
Lot 447
Lot 229
Lot 671
Switzerland. Basel.
10 ducats, 1741, minted with the dies of the half taler. Extremely rare. PCGS MS63PL. Extremely fine to FDC.
Estimate: 175,000 euros
Russian Treasures
Russian Empire. Peter I, 1682-1725. 1712 ducat, Moscow, Red Mint. Very rare. Extremely fine.
Estimate: 100,000 euros
Los 695
China. 1 dollar n.d. (1908), Tientsin. Very rare. NGC MS66 (Top Pop!). FDC.
Schätzung: 75.000 Euro
Collectors of Russian coins will find an interesting selection of extremely rare pieces. 64 lots, starting with the coinage of Peter the Great and ending with those of Czar Nicholas II, are available. Many pieces are of particular historical interest, including a socalled “Trubetskoi ruble”, which was produced in 1825 for the Russian consul in Marseille, modelled on the Constantine rubles. Trubetskoi is said to have tried to pass these off as genuine Constantine rubles. Just as fascinating is a gold medal commemorating the momentous peace with Persia of 1828, which led to the founding of the Russian District of Armenia. Thousands of Armenians from the Iranian and Ottoman empires found new homes there.
642
Russian Empire. Constantine I, 1825. Trubetskoy ruble, silver medal n.d. (with engraved 1873 on the rim).
Extremely rare. Extremely fine to FDC.
Estimate: 25,000 euros
Lot 600
Lot
Probably
Cabinet
Extremely fine.
Estimate: 75,000 euros
Please note that our auction 418 will not take place on the Thursday before the World Money Fair as in previous years, but on Wednesday, January 29, 2025!
Lot 623
Russian Empire. Peter III., 1762. Gold medal 1762, from J. Abraham, on the Peace of Hamburg between Prussia, Russia and Sweden. Extremely rare.
the only copy in private ownership.
piece of fine style.
Highlights of the medal maker’s art
Our next Berlin auction will take place on 29 January 2025, kicking off the World Money Fair. In addition to numismatic rarities from the time of the Thirty Years’ War, part of the collection of a German manufacturer and history enthusiast, the accompanying auction catalogue contains a number of other highlights: numerous medals of exceptional quality and great rarity. With pieces from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, as well as from the 19th and 20th centuries, the entire spectrum of medal art is represented. We have summarised some highlights for you here.
By Anne Falckenthal
Lot 305
Karl / Charles V as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 1548, Sacrum Romanum Imperium (from 1520 to 1556). Originally attributed to Titian, now attributed to Lambert Sustris.
Alte Pinakothek, München.
Photo: Wikipedia, public domain
Habsburg, Karl / Charles V, 1519-1558. Silver medal 1521, intended as a gift for the Imperial Diet in Nürnberg. Extremely rare. Original mint. Wonderful patina, small flaw to the edge, extremely fine.
Estimate: 100,000 euros
This magnificent silver medal with the impressive portrait of Karl V was produced in 1521 based on a design by Albrecht Dürer. The rarity of the piece is explained by the fact that as early as 1537, almost all of the series had been melted down. A special minting technique was developed for the production of this extraordinary piece: Two dies were used for the obverse and the reverse, respectively – a round, central die and an annular, outer one.
Lot 417
The Counts Schlick, Stephan, Burian, Heinrich, Hieronymus and Lorenz, 1505-1532. Silver medal 1533, struck for Stephan and Lorenz Schlick. Of great rarity and importance. A showpiece. Splendid patina, tiny hole in the planchet, extremely fine.
Estimate: 20,000 euros
The Schlick counts – represented here by the brothers Stephan and Lorenz – are famous for their Jáchymov coinage, which was the first of its kind to give the thaler its name. The medal maker David Enderlein created this impressive testimony to Renaissance art.
Lot 193
Erzgebirge Mountains. Gold medal at 10 ducats 1534 for the Passover festival. In gold of great rarity. Minted original. Min. traces of testing on the edge, extremely fine.
Estimate: 75,000 euros
This gold medal of ten ducats from 1534 is a particular rarity and is traditionally associated with the minted medals of the Erzgebirge Mountains of eastern Germany. With its depiction of the Last Supper and a lamb, it refers to the Passover festival.
Lot 353
Habsburg, Leopold I, 1657-1705. Silver medal 1700, for the construction of Schönbrunn Palace for Joseph I. Extremely rare, especially in this condition. Cabinet piece. Magnificent patina, tiny stamping error, mint luster.
Estimate: 7,500 euros
This silver medal is not only fascinating because of its rarity, but also because of its exceptionally magnificent condition. The outstanding representation of Schönbrunn Palace is recognisable down to the smallest detail. Joseph I, Leopold’s son and successor, was personally involved in the design of his future residence. His stated aim was to surpass the splendour of the Palace of Versailles.
Lot 420
Vienna. Gold medal at 24 ducats, no year indicated (after 1843). Salvator medal. Extremely rare. The rarest and largest nominal value of the Salvator medals. Fine scratches, extremely fine-mint luster.
Estimate: 17,500 euros
These pieces are called “Salvator medals” because of the image of Christ with a halo on the reverse. The design is reminiscent of the painting “Salvator mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci. Since 1575, the city of Vienna has been giving these medals to the most important officials and dignitaries as New Year’s gifts. This example was made after 1843 and is one of the rarest of the Salvator medals.
Lot 650
Russia, Nicholas I, 1825-1855. Gold medal of 50 ducats 1828 for the peace with Persia. Extremely rare.
Scratches on the edge and in the field, extremely fine-mint luster. Estimate: 75,000 euros
The occasion for the minting of this extremely rare 50-ducat gold medal was the peace treaty between Russia and the Persian Empire in 1828. After the Persians – incited by the British – crossed the Russian border without declaring war in 1826, a war that lasted over a year was waged. Ultimately, the Persian Shah not only lost the conflict with the Russians, but also two Khanates, 20,000,000 rubles and the naval supremacy over the Caspian Sea. The obverse of the medal shows Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat.
20th Anniversary of the Erivan and Helga Haub Foundation
By Bernhard Weisser
The Erivan and Helga Haub Foundation was created exactly 20 years ago. The date was also the 100th anniversary of the reopening of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, now known as the Bode Museum, at the northern tip of the Museumsinsel Berlin. The Numismatic Collection, moved from the Royal Museum at the Lustgarten, has been located in this museum building continuously since its opening. In 2004, after a six-year renovation, the coin cabinet was open again as a separate section in time for the anniversary. After the signing of the foundation contract, Herr and Frau Haub, together with the then Minister of Finance Hans Eichel and the President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, were among the first guests to be presented with a “road of gold and silver” in the coin cabinet’s large vault. The public also had the opportunity to view the vault over the following two days, as a way of thanking the citizens for helping to finance the renovation with their taxes – a renovation which, incidentally, was completed on budget.
Bernhard Weisser and Helga Haub.
The Erivan and Helga Haub Foundation consists of an endowment fund, the income from which can be used for acquisitions. In addition, the Haub couple has made many significant individual donations. Among the special donations is an exquisite bracteate of Abbess Gertrud in Eschwege, which she minted for Friedrich I “Barbarossa” in 1188. Numerous donations were related to the collection’s focus on Brandenburg and Prussia. We have the world’s best collection in this regard, and were able to close gaps related to Friedrich the Great, for example. Bernd Kluge published a new monograph on this exceptional Prussian in 2012, and we celebrated
Friedrich the Great together with the Haubs. The oldestdated gold gulden from Berlin, dating from 1518, was presented to the Numismatic Collection on the occasion of Bernd Kluge’s retirement from administrative responsibility upon reaching retirement age in 2014. The most recent donation is the thaler of the Hohenzollern Jobst Nikolaus II, which I reported on last month (MR 11/2024, 32).
The second major area of funding concerns the online catalogue of the Coin Cabinet. This time it was Helga Haub who made it her “baby”, as she herself put it. When we reopened the museum exhibitions in October 2006, she liked the coin catalogue programmed by Jürgen Freundel and provided money for an online version. Just seven months later, on International Museum Day, 20 May 2007, the Interactive Catalogue of the Coin Cabinet, or IKMC for short, was presented to the public at an international colloquium. Erivan Haub cut a virtual red ribbon for that occasion. Since then, we have celebrated our birthday every year on 20 May, and the baby has grown into a veritable teenager. Currently, more than 31 institutions and over 40 collections are involved – mainly from Germany, but also from Austria, Switzerland and Greece. We have almost 140,000 objects, a great collaborative effort considering that a high-quality publication using standard data and “linked open data” takes an hour. But we are not resting on our laurels. We are currently in the process of developing IKMK.net from a product into a certified service. An online product requires constant care, maintenance and updating. Its value lies in the willingness of those involved to take responsibility for it and invest time in it. With regard to IKMK.net, this is done in many ways by many people; IKMK.net has many mothers and fathers. And it also has sister products such as Corpus-nummorum.eu on the ancient landscapes of Thrace, Moesia Inferior, Mysia and the Troad, and also derivatives such as the portals for the coins found at Priene, Pergamon, Olympia and Assos. There are various other projects that have the IKMK as a point of reference.
In addition to these two main forms of support, there was other support and, above all, joint events. The revision of the permanent exhibition in the Pergamon Museum in 2009 was made possible by Erivan and Helga Haub. At the opening, Helga Haub received a surprise medal designed by the Berlin sculptor Anna Franziska Schwarzbach. On the front, it shows the portrait and the signature of Helga Haub. In 2022, her husband’s portrait was added. Both are surrounded by images of the Bode Museum and its exhibits. The whole thing works as a three-part medal, an artistic medal that ties in with an old tradition and transports it into the 21st century (see letter no. 57, MR 11/2022).
We had chosen the motto of Friedrich the Great, “maxima res effecta” (“the greatest thing accomplished”), for the opening of the interactive catalogue. This saying still guides us today. More people are currently working at the coin cabinet than ever before in the museum’s 150-year history. They include student assistants who were born in this millennium, but also the four honorary staff members led by our doyen Renate Vogel. There is the IKMK family, which continues to grow. And there is a large circle of well-wishers around us. I, and all of us, are deeply grateful for this.
One story in particular comes to mind. It goes something like this: The Master entrusted a pound to his two servants (ministers). After twenty years he returned. One of them rushed up to him and said proudly: “Master, I have kept your pound well in our 50-metre-long vault. Here it is, undamaged. Nobody touched it, I was the only one watching over it, and it shines just like it did 20 years ago.” The other one was a bit more hesitant: “Master, I took your pound and spent it. There was a new procedure for showing our treasures to others and letting them take part. People liked it, and other people came who wanted to join in. Everyone is participating, including financially, and look: Your pound is gone, but something new and good has come of it, the pound has multiplied many times over.” After twenty years , we are now presenting our account to you together, and we look forward to your judgement. Please feel free to write to me: b.weisser@smb.spk-berlin.de.
Prof. Dr Bernhard Weisser is Director of the Numismatic Collection of the National Museums in the Bodemuseum Berlin. The Bodemuseum houses the largest German state coin collection, whose origins date back to the electors of Brandenburg.
The History Thalers of Ludwig I of Bavaria
A total of 38 different so-called “History Medals” were issued under King Ludwig I of Bavaria. We are pleased to offer you a complete series of these medals in fine quality in our eLive Auction 86. The auction will take place from 3 - 7 March 2025 at www.kuenker.de.
By Julia Fesca
The distinctive “history thalers” of the Kingdom of Bavaria have been popular collectors’ items since the mid-19th century. On the obverse, they always bear the portrait of their patron, King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1825-1848) (Fig. 1) – and later that of King Maximilian II of Bavaria (1849-1804). The reverses, on the other hand, are artistically designed and commemorate important personalities and events in Bavarian history.
Unlike the kronenthaler, doppelthaler and -gulden (Fig. 2) issued at the same time, the history thalers were not classic coins, but rather a hybrid of medal and coin. They had nominal values and represented a state-issued currency, but at the same time, they served – in a manner similar to medals – as a medium for messages and commemoration, with high artistic value.
The idea behind them was not, however, a Bavarian one. The inspiration for them came from a speech given at the Royal Academy of Arts in Berlin on the occasion of the birthday of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia (1786-1797): On 25 September 1790, Friedrich Gedike (Fig. 3), who belonged to the ranks of the Berlin Enlightenment philosophers, recalled the high quality of Greek and Roman die cutting during antiquity. He said that it had transformed everyday objects not only into metal messengers, but above all into objects with lasting sentimental value.
His idea of taking up this approach and immortalising memorable events of the present day on contemporary coins did not appeal to the Prussian king. The situation was different in the Kingdom of Bavaria, however: King Ludwig I, known as a lover of art and particularly as an admirer of classical antiquity, took a keen interest in the idea several decades later. In September 1828, he commissioned the design of two historical convention thalers. These were to be produced according to the applicable coin standard and would feature the laying of the foundation stone of the Ingolstadt Fortress on one side, and the royal family on the other. Incidentally, just as the King specified the subjects of the first two historical thalers, all future decisions on the designs were always made by Ludwig I personally.
Fig. 2: Bavaria. Ludwig I, 1825-1848, crown thaler 1837 (Thun 48).
However, it would take almost another year before the first Bavarian historical thaler was actually minted, as Ludwig I still had a number of requests for changes to the die cutter’s designs. It was only in December of 1829 that the King gave his final approval, thus paving the way for the first such issue. Accordingly, the production of these commemorative coins did not begin until 1830, even though the dates stamped on the historical thalers suggest an earlier beginning of the series. In fact, the dates are related to the respective commemorative occasion of each thaler.
As specified by Ludwig I, the first Bavarian historical thaler, entitled “Blessing of Heaven”, was dedicated to the royal family. The commemorative coin he also commissioned for the laying of the foundation stone of the Ingolstadt Fortress was never realised. The obverse of the coin shows the King’s portrait, while the centre of the reverse features a medallion with the bust of his wife, Queen Therese of Bavaria (1792-1854). It is surrounded by a circle of smaller emblems, which show the busts of the couple’s four sons on the left and their four daughters on the right (Fig. 4). Incidentally, this design also found favour beyond the borders of Bavaria. The Russian Czar Nicholas I, for example, was so fascinated by the coin that he decided to have a commemorative coin minted in the same style to mark the tenth anniversary of his reign – the so-called
“family rouble”. This has an almost identical reverse to the Bavarian History Thaler, and is now one of the greatest rarities in Russian coin history (Fig. 5).
Another memorable event that was to be immortalised retrospectively on the history thalers was, of course, the accession of Ludwig I on 13 October 1825. When his father, Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (1806-1825), died on 12 October of the same year, the Crown Prince was travelling. He did not arrive in München until a few days later and then took the oath of allegiance to the constitution as the new regent. The history convention thaler commemorates this moment: It shows the new King in his coronation robes standing at a table on which lie the crown, the sceptre, and the constitution (Fig. 6).
Fig.
Fig. 4: Conv. thaler 1828. Blessing of Heaven (Thun 56).
Fig. 5: Russian family ruble. Nicholas I, 1825-1855, 1 1/2 Rubles (10 Zlotych) 1835 (Bitkin 885).
Fig. 6: Conv. thaler 1825. Accession to the throne (Thun 49).
In the following years, Ludwig I was particularly interested in the economic situation of his kingdom. Although he was rather sceptical of the ongoing process of industrialisation, trade and transport conditions improved significantly under his reign. One of the most significant successes in this area was the founding of the Bavaria-Württemberg Customs Union in 1827. This customs treaty created a new economic area in which internal customs duties and other obstacles to trade and transport were eliminated. However, after only a few years it became apparent that the area was too small for an effective and economically sensible customs policy. As a result, Bavaria and Württemberg decided as early as 1829 to work together with Prussia and Hesse, which led to the formation of the Southern German Customs Union. About four years later, the Customs Union was expanded again, with the trading partners Saxony and Thuringia joining. This alliance eventually led to the formation of the German Customs Union in 1835, which was joined by Baden. The great importance of these treaties for Ludwig I is reflected in the fact that the King had a separate commemorative medal minted for each of the four customs unions. The one commemorating the accession of Saxony and Thuringia features the King’s well-known portrait on the obverse. The reverse shows a standing woman with two characteristic trade symbols in her hands – the rod of Mercury in her right and the cornucopia in her left. At her feet are two symbolic images that specifically refer to maritime and inland waterway trade: an anchor and a representation of a ship (Fig. 7).
The commemorative coin depicting the equestrian statue of Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria (1623-1651), which Ludwig I had erected, had commemorative value in multiple connections. The reverse of the coin shows the bronze equestrian statue that can still be found today on Wittelsbacherplatz in München, depicting the Elector in full armour on horseback (Fig. 8). The inscription on the reverse of the thaler reads “REITERSÄULE MAXIMILIAN‘S I CHURFÜRSTEN
V. BAYERN” (Rider column of Maximilian I Elector of Bavaria) and the subsection refers to Ludwig I as the initiator of the monument: ERRICHTET V.KÖNIG
LUDWIG I. 1839 (Erected by King Ludwig I 1839) (Fig. 9). The monarch thus immortalised not only his famous ancestor, revered for his commitment to the Catholic faith, on the new commemorative thalers, but also his own work as a patron of the arts.
A similar situation arose with the commemorative medal that Ludwig I dedicated to the esteemed jurist Wiguläus Xaver Alois Freiherr von Kreittmayr (17051790). The jurist had earned his merits as a political adviser at the Bavarian court of Elector Maximilian III Joseph (1754-1777) by undertaking a codification of Bavarian civil law as well as criminal and civil procedural law during the 1750s. In his honour, Ludwig I had a monument erected on what is now Maximiliansplatz in München, but it was dismantled before the Second World War. The 34th commemorative thaler, however, continues to pay tribute to the ceremonial unveiling of that statue on 25 October 1845 (Fig. 10).
Finally, one of the last commemorative coins of Ludwig I has as its subject the change of government on 20 March 1848. On the reverse, it shows the monarch handing over the crown to his son, Maximilian II (1848-1864), who is standing opposite him (Fig. 11). This image focuses on the voluntary abdication of Ludwig I. The critical political and social circumstances, such as the monarch’s affair with the dancer Lola Montez and the escalating unrest and protests among the Bavarian population in the context of the German Revolution of 1848/49, are ignored. This historical coin thus offers testimony to the fact that the commemorative coins of Ludwig I did not necessarily strive for an exclusively realistic depiction of events. Rather, they served to idealise and glorify Ludwig I and his reign.
King Maximilian II eventually continued the series of Bavarian history thalers with five more commemorative thalers. Under Ludwig I, by contrast, a total of 38 different history thalers were issued, and we at the Künker auction house are delighted to offer you a complete series in fine quality with eLive Auction 86. The auction will take place from 3 - 7 March 2025.
For a short film with more intriguing details about Ludwig I and his history thalers, simply scan the QR code on the right.
Literature: Grasser, Walter: Bayerische Geschichtstaler von Ludwig I und Maximilian II, Rosenheim (1982)
Fig. 10: Double convention thaler 1845. Statue of Baron von Kreittmayr (Thun 84).
Fig. 11: Double convention thaler 1848. Transfer of the crown (Thun 56).
Coins with Horse Motifs from the Dr Eike Druckrey Collection
By Johannes Nollé
A remarkable auction
The successful conclusion of our Auction 416, “The Dr Eike Druckrey Collection – The Aesthetics and Thought of the Early Greeks”, gave everyone involved reason to celebrate. The 305 highly attractive coins were sold on 29 October 2020 during our autumn auction at four times the estimated price. Collectors who were able to add one of the coins from this notable auction to their collection can be proud of having acquired outstanding pieces with remarkable provenance.
After the auction, I had the honour and pleasure of giving a lecture in which I discussed a number of interesting coins from the collection of Dr Eike Druckrey
in more detail and put them in a factual context. “Beautiful Horses on Greek Coins from the Collection of Dr Eike Druckrey” was a topic that obviously met with interest in Lower Saxony, the “horse state” of Germany, and attracted a correspondingly large audience.
The Greeks’ pursuit of beauty
The Greeks aspired to beauty as did hardly any other culture. They had an open eye for the natural beauty that surrounded them in the landscapes of their homeland. However, it was not only the beauty of the Mediterranean mountains, seas, rivers, and forests that inspired the Greeks. They also perceived the beauty of the people, animals, and plants that lived there. They depicted this beauty on their coins – not least as a token of their love for their homeland – in aesthetically impressive coin designs. The natural beauty of their environment that the Greeks perceived was an incentive for them to make their entire world as beautiful as possible, their cities and buildings as well as all the objects with which they surrounded themselves. This included, in particular, the visual arts and language, the beauty and spirit of which they expressed in their paintings, sculptures and literary works. Even today, these are admired, collected, exhibited and read all over the world. Beauty was and is one of the most important phenomena of Greek culture and thus of Greek identity. To this day, Greek ideals of beauty continue to have an effect in many areas.
The beauty of Greek coins, rarely equalled in the field of coin design, is also reflected in the Greek coins that are now in demand among collectors around the world. The collector of this group, Dr Druckrey, has gained remarkable insights into the astonishing aesthetics of Greek money over the many years of his collecting activity (Fig. 1). He has modelled them and recorded his impressions in a book, of which a few copies can still be obtained from our company.
In the last issue of Künker Exklusiv, 5/2024, I discussed some of the coins in the Druckrey collection which depicted female beauty: Beautiful goddesses, attractive nymphs, dignified city goddesses and dangerously beautiful Amazons created urban identity, and could
Fig. 1: The collector, Dr Eike Druckrey
give a city an attractive and easily recognisable flair. The cities competed to present the most beautiful woman on the obverse of their coins.
Horses in Greek life
The beauty of a Greek city could also be expressed through the depiction of beautiful horses. Horses were an indispensable part of Greek life. The numerous “horse names” borne by Greek men and women give a first impression of the Greeks’ love of horses. Not only the frequently-encountered name Philippos (“horse lover”) should be mentioned here. Archippos and Hippocrates (“master of horses”), Kallippos and Leukippos (“owner of a beautiful or white horse/white horseman”), Xanthippe (“dun mare”), Lysippos and Hippolytos (“horse tamer”) and many more names come to mind.
Horses were used in everyday life in ancient times as a relatively fast means of transport for people and messages. If the steeds pulled a chariot, it was usually to transport goods. Plough horses were uncommon in ancient times; oxen were used to pull ploughs.
Horses were used in athletic competitions, which were regularly held in connection with festivals in honour of the gods. There were many different equestrian- and chariot-racing disciplines. The aim of the aristocrats, who alone could afford stables, was to ensure that their
Fig. 2: Pindar (Museum Aphrodisias, JN)
Fig. 3: Map of Sicily (based on Wikipedia, by Tschubby)
Estimate: 200 euros, Hammer Price: 1,200 euros
Estimate: 400 euros, Hammer Price: 3,200 euros
Estimate: 750 euros, Hammer Price: 2,000 euros
Estimate: 4,000 euros, Hammer Price: 50,000 euros
horses were the best by outdoing those of their noble competitors. The Greeks lived by the principle of agon, which Homer had already formulated in the Iliad 6 / 208 and 11 / 784: “Always the best and above all!”, and thus achieved outstanding performances in many fields. That is why only the winner was honoured; prizes for second or third place did not exist. Victorious horse owners were admired by their contemporaries. Victories in the equestrian competitions – the hippic agones –of the Panhellenic Games, especially in Olympia, but also in Delphi, Nemea, and Corinth, were particularly desirable. Victory in these games was a source of enormous prestige and could be the high point in the life of a Greek. The aura surrounding the victor in Greek equestrian sports is conveyed by the victory songs – socalled Epinikien – of the Greek poet Pindar, who lived between 520 and 446 BC (Fig. 2).
Horses were also indispensable for hunting. Since there were no long-range firearms in ancient times, it was necessary to get as close as possible to the game in order to be able to kill it. Horses were very useful for this, but they also protected the hunter from direct attacks by the game. Hunting was good training for war. In fact, cavalry often played the most important role in decisive battles. The cavalry was able to carry out rapid and massive attacks and put infantry troops to flight.
Fig. 4: Bronze coin from Aitna. Auction 416, Lot 1033.
Fig. 6: Tetradrachm of Katane. Auction 416, Lot 1045.
Fig. 7: Tetradrachm of Katane. Auction 416, Lot 1060.
Fig. 8: The Arethusa Fountain of Syracuse (JN)
Fig. 5: Didrachm from Gela. Auction 416, Lot 1036.
Estimate:
Estimate:
The Greek aristocrats were often referred to as hippeís (ἱππεῖς) or, in Latin, as equites, i.e. as horse owners/ knights, after the horses they kept. The horse was the status symbol of the ancient aristocracy and an important instrument of their self-representation. It was not possible for less wealthy people in ancient times to afford the expensive upkeep of a horse. Most were happy to have enough to eat themselves. The Roman agronomist Columella (VI 27, 1) emphasises: “largam satietatem desiderat equitium” / “The equine family desires much fodder”.
Thus, the main problem with keeping horses in the Mediterranean area was the provision of fodder for these animals. Horses needed plenty of grass and water, but also grain if they were to have the strength to perform strenuous tasks in the service of man or to deliver top performances in horse competitions. Horses love flat areas that offer enough green fodder and water even in the hot summers of the Mediterranean region. This fact is expressed by the Greek saying “If there is a plain, there are also horses there” (παρὰ μὲν πεδίον, παρὰ δ᾿ ἵππος). On the plains, it was also possible to grow the crops that were important for feeding horses. Since the lower-lying plains of the Mediterranean often dried up in summer and their vegetation withered, horses had to be moved to higher plains over the summer. Because of the challenges of keeping them, there were landscapes in the Greek world that were better suited for horse breeding than others.
In view of the importance of the horse in the real lives of the Greeks, it is hardly surprising that the animal played an important role in their myths. There was almost no limit to the imagination: Horses could speak, like those of the hero Achilles. On horses that had wings, one could fly and carry out attacks from the air. Heracles was confronted with horses that tore people apart like predators and then ate them. With their hooves, miraculous horses could make springs suddenly gush. Heroes hid in the belly of a wooden horse and in this manner succeeded in conquering the city of Troy after a ten-year siege.
Horses on Sicilian coins: Reminders of a Greek aristocracy proud of its horses
Ancient Sicily was particularly well-suited for horse breeding. It is therefore not surprising that the Dr Druckrey Collection contains many depictions of horses from Sicilian mints (Fig. 3). One beautiful bronze coin (Fig. 4: Lot 1033) comes from Aitna, located at the foot of Mount Aetna, which was a native settlement called Inessa before the later city was founded by the Greeks. The piece was probably minted by Campanian mercenaries settled there in the period from about 350-339 BC. The coin has an unfinished appearance because one “casting nose” of the planchet was not cut off, and the other only very imprecisely. The goddess Persephone is depicted on the obverse, on the reverse a galloping horse that has obviously broken free and is dragging its reins with it. It is clear that Aitna offered good conditions for horse breeding, as the streams and rivulets of Aetna provided well-watered pasture land. Persephone, the daughter of the grain goddess Demeter, with ears of grain in her hair, indicates that enough barley or wheat was produced to ensure that the
Fig. 9: Decadrachm of Syracuse. Auction 416, Lot 1073.
Fig. 10: Tetradrachm of Kamarina. Auction 416, Lot 1042.
5,000 euros, Hammer Price: 38,000 euros
Fig. 11: Tetradrachm of Selinus. Auction 416, Lot 1057.
1,500 euros, Hammer Price: 2,800 euros
horses were fed with grain. Unfortunately, we cannot determine what the image of a horse that has broken free is supposed to indicate, because we know too little about the history of the small Sicilian city of Aitna.
On the coins of Sicilian cities, racing wagons appear again and again, sometimes pulled by two horses (biga), sometimes by four horses (quadriga). Schwabacher once called them a “common Sicilian emblem”. They are a reminder that the Sicilian aristocrats and their horses repeatedly won the four Panhellenic Games in the Greek motherland, as well as competitions at home in Sicily. In the sixth and fifth centuries BC, the cities of Sicily were ruled by a landowning aristocracy, the Gamoren (“owners”). Some of them repeatedly managed to rise to the position of tyrants. Horses were an important instrument of power: With their cavalry, the noble horse owners conquered other cities, successfully repelled the Carthaginians who repeatedly tried to conquer all of
Sicily, and suppressed the uprisings of the indigenous peoples of Sicily and the resistance of the Greek urban population. Thucydides (VI 20) writes admiringly about the Sicilian cavalry: “And what they (the Sicelians) have above all: they have a strong cavalry and live on their own grain, not on imported grain”. A didrachm of Gela, minted between 490 and 475 BC, probably depicts one of these aristocratic cavalrymen (possibly also the heroic city founder) raising his lance for a thrust (Fig. 5: Lot 1036). On the reverse, the river god Gelas is depicted as a bull with the head of a man. His name is written below him in Greek letters: ΓΕΛΑΣ. It was thanks to the waters of this river in particular that the aristocrats of Gela were able to keep and maintain horses on a large scale.
Sicily’s nobility liked to show off their beautiful horses and the wealth behind such displays. It was no easy undertaking, and certainly not an inexpensive one, to transport horses from Sicily to the Greek competition
Fig. 12: Selinus, the rebuilt temple E (JN)
sites on special ships. The Sicilian aristocrats were obviously so successful at horse racing that the coins of the Sicilian cities are teeming with teams of horses. A beautiful tetradrachm from Katane (Fig. 6: Lot 1045), struck around the middle of the fifth century BC, depicts a horse or mule biga moving forward. Its driver holds a long horse-driving stick in his hand. The reverse shows the classic head of Apollo with a laurel wreath. A tetradrachm in excellent condition, minted under the tyrant Gelon, who ruled over Syracuse from 485 to 478 BC (Fig. 7: Lot 1060), also depicts a biga advancing in march step. In this case, however, the achievement of the horses is emphasised over that of the charioteer: A winged Nike crowns the elegant animals, not the victorious driver. The reverse depicts the head of Arethusa, the goddess of springs, with an austere neck plait hairstyle. She is surrounded by four dolphins because a freshwater spring located directly by the sea was nothing short of a miracle (Fig. 8).
On a decadrachm minted about 100 years later (Fig. 9: Lot 1073), a quadriga is depicted in wild gallop, driven by a racer with a long whip. A Nike flies towards him, ready to honour him with the victor’s wreath. The parts of a complete suit of armour are depicted in the field of the coin image. We know that complete suits of armour or sometimes parts of them were offered as a reward alongside the wreath at competitions. The reverse of the coin depicts Arethusa, who has a hairstyle in the form of a wreath with curls spilling out and water-reed leaves stuck into it.
Another quadriga is depicted on a tetradrachm of Kamarina (Fig. 10: Lot 1042) from the last quarter of the fifth century BC. The sketchy rendering of the speeding team is less successful than on the previously-presented coin. The tangle of parallel horse legs seems contrived. In the exergue, there is an image of a heron in flight. Kamarina was situated on the shore of a now driedup lake, which was obviously a bird paradise, but which also suggests that there was sufficient water and lush grass for Kamarina’s horses near the city. On the obverse, there is the head of Heracles with the skin of the Nemean lion pulled over it. Heracles was one of the leading tutelary gods of Kamarina. In view of the close connection between horses and the Sicilian nobility, it is not surprising that the idea developed that the gods who were supposed to protect Sicily’s cities and people also travelled on chariots. A tetradrachm of Selinūs (Fig. 11: Lot 1057) bears witness to this world of thought: On the obverse, it shows a slowly-moving chariot – sometimes it is not possible to determine whether it is a biga or a quadriga – driven by Artemis. Next to her stands her brother Apollo on the chariot. He has drawn his bow and is about to shoot an arrow. With his arrows, Apollo could bring about illness, but also ward it off (Fig. 12).
On the reverse of the coin, a river god stands before an altar. With his right hand, he pours out a pre-sacrifice from a bowl and holds a laurel branch in his left hand. From this, we can deduce that these are purification sacrifices to ward off evil spirits that could cause disease. In front of the altar, there is a rooster, possibly the sacrificial animal. Behind the river god stands a bull on a pedestal, which probably represents the river god in animal form. The bull statue seems to indicate that we are in the sanctuary of this river god, who was thought of as a bull that could hardly be tamed during floods, but who also brought fertility. Above the bull, a leaf of wild celery can be seen, the plant that lined the banks of the two main rivers of the city of Selinūs – the Selinūs River and the Hypsas. The sacrificing river god is shown as an example to the citizens of Selinunte, who are urged by this coin motif to follow his example. Like Jesus at the Last Supper, ancient gods are said to have instituted sacrifices in their own honour, long before the Christ. The Selinuntians worshipped their rivers because they provided the city with the most important basis for life, by filling up the soil for fertile grain fields and providing lush grassland and water for intensive horse breeding. The obverse, with Apollo and Artemis, may refer to an episode related by the famous miracle worker Empedocles, who eventually threw himself into Mount Aetna. When the city of Selinūs suffered from the vapours of its rivers and was probably afflicted by malaria, he is said to have ensured that both watercourses were better flushed, so that the marshes that provided a habitat for the fever mosquitoes no longer developed. This context offers the most plausible explanation for the image of Apollo shooting arrows on the obverse of the coin.
Fig. 13: Carthaginian tetradrachm.
15: Carthaginian gold coin.
Auction 416, Lot 1299.
Estimate: 1,000 euros, Hammer Price: 2,250 euros
Phoenician competition:
The Carthaginians and their Berber horses
The western part of Sicily was ruled by Carthage for a very long time. The Carthaginians used their own war money there to pay the mercenaries they employed against the Greek cities on the island. The obverse of a Carthaginian tetradrachm, minted between 320 and 300 BC, shows the Syracusan coin motif of the nymph Arethusa, a nymph of the spring surrounded by dolphins (Fig. 13: Lot 1098). It is unclear whether the Carthaginians wanted to make their tetradrachms, minted for the war in Sicily, more acceptable with such a well-established motif, or whether such coins were intended to publicise the conquest of Syracuse as a strategic end goal of the Carthaginians. Perhaps both are true. The reverse of this Carthaginian Arethusa coin shows a beautiful horse’s head, with a date palm behind it. Anyone who held such a coin in their hand would have been reminded of the Carthaginians’ famous Barbary / Berber horses (Fig. 14). These gave the Carthaginian cavalry particular clout. A century later, Hannibal’s cavalry would become the terror of the Romans in Italy. The Berber horses of North Africa are one of the oldest and most robust horse breeds in the Mediterranean region and are the ancestors of many well-known European horse breeds, including the Andalusian and Lipizzaner. Libya, with Carthage at its cultural and political centre, was called “horsenourishing” (hippóbotos) by the Greeks because of its Berbers. However, the reverse of the coin is intended not only to render visible the Carthaginians’ pride in their noble and beautiful horses, but also to remind those familiar with Carthaginian mythical traditions of their city’s founding story: A Phoenician princess named Dido, who was also called Elissa, is said to have
17: Drachm of Larissa.
Auction 416, Lot 1161.
Estimate: 1,000 euros, Hammer Price: 11,000 euros
Fig. 18: Drachm of Larissa.
Auction 416, Lot 1162.
Estimate: 100 euros, Hammer Price: 260 euros
19: Didrachm of Larissa.
Auction 416, Lot 1163.
Estimate: 4,000 euros, Hammer Price: 7,500 euros
20: Drachm of Pharsalos.
Auction 416, Lot 1164.
Estimate: 400 euros, Hammer Price: 1,700 euros
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig. 14: Barbary / Berber horse (Wikipedia, Alexander Kastler)
founded Carthage at the spot where a horse skull was found near a date palm, following an oracle’s prophecy. This was interpreted as an omen that the Carthaginians would be able to live in luxury without much work, and would be fed lavishly like noble horses. The date palm with its abundant fruit not only indicates the place where the horse’s head was found, but was also the national symbolic plant of the Phoenicians, like the German oak or the Bohemian lime: Phoinix is the Greek word for date palm. The Carthaginian Berber horse is depicted on the coin in the act of flehmen (German), i.e. it has opened its mouth and is showing its teeth. This may have been meant as a threat to the Greeks of Sicily. Below the snarling horse’s head are the Phoenician letters AMMaHaNaT (“camp money”), indicating that this was Carthaginian war money. A Carthaginian gold coin (Fig. 15: Lot 1299) depicts a Berber horse on its obverse side, along with the head of the fertility goddess Tanit wearing a garland of grain.
Horse breeding in the plains of Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace
Various aspects of horse-keeping can be found on the coins of Larissa in Thessaly (Fig. 16).
A particularly magnificent piece is a drachm minted around 370 BC with the head of the nymph Larissa in three-quarter view (Fig. 17: Lot 1161). The reverse shows an idyllic image of a mare with her foal. Another drachm that has fared less well over the millennia (Fig. 18: Lot 1162) shows a grazing horse about to clear grass covered with snow and ice with its left front hoof. In Thessaly, as in the steppes of southern Russia, the climate was often icy in winter, but horses were able to get to the covered grass without difficulty thanks to their hard hooves. A didrachm from Larisa shows a trotting horse (Fig. 19: Lot 1163) with reins. This coin indicates that the Thessalian horses were trained.
Fig. 16: Map of Thessaly, Macedonia, southern Thrace (based on Wikipedia, Tschubby)
Estimate: 2,000 euros, Hammer Price: 6,500 euros
Estimate: 1,500 euros, Hammer Price: 2,800 euros
Thessaly, with its large plain surrounded by mountains which were quite high in some places, was the Greek horse country par excellence. In a poem from the “Greek Anthology” (XIV 73), the merits of some Greek cities are listed. While Argos in the Peloponnese is said to be the best city, the women of Sparta and the men of Syracuse are said to be the best, and Thessaly is characterised by its mares: “On earth, Argos, the city of the Pelasgians, is best, followed by Thessalian mares and Lacedaemonian women, then the men who drink from the Arethusas spring, the beautiful one”. According to one myth, Thessaly was even the home of the horse: Poseidon, the god of earthquakes, the sea, and horses, is said to have split a rock with his trident, from which the first horse emerged. The Thracian nobles were said to have invented the bridle and reins to make the horse useful for their military campaigns (Lucan VI 395-399). A drachm from the city of Pharsalos depicts a beautiful head of Athena wearing an Attic helmet on the obverse, and a Thessalian nobleman urging his horse on to a gallop with his riding crop on the reverse (Fig. 20: Lot 1164). He is wearing the typical headdress of Thessalian horsemen, a kind of sun hat called a kausia.
Fig. 21: Didrachm of Amyntas II. Auction 416, Lot 1141.
Fig. 23: Map of Asia Minor (based on Wikipedia, Tschubby)
Fig. 22: Stater of Maroneia. Auction 416, Lot 1118.
The wealth and power of the Thessalian aristocracy was in fact based on horse breeding. In their circles, it was customary for a bridegroom to present his wife with a horse that was fully equipped for battle (Aelian, Life of Animals XII 34). Presumably, the bridegroom wanted to show that he would be able to protect his wife in the event of a hostile invasion. One of the most famous horses of antiquity – Alexander the Great’s Bucephalus – had been offered to Alexander’s father Philip II by a Thessalian breeder. King Philip had to pay 13 talents for this horse. 1 (Attic) talent weighed about 26 kg. At today’s price of approx. 1,150 euros for 1 kg of silver, one talent would be the equivalent of 29,900 euros. According to this calculation, the purchase price of 13 talents was 388,700 euros. However, we must assume that in the ancient world silver was scarcer than it is today, had a much higher purchasing power, and thus that the purchase price for Bucephalus was considerably higher.
In the north of Greece, Macedonia and Thrace were regions with a similar landscape and climate to that of Thessaly. Horse breeding was widespread in both areas; the nobility of Macedonia and Thrace were also horse aristocracies. In the Macedonian army, the horsemen formed an elite unit that usually decided the outcome of a battle. Without his noble horsemen, Alexander the Great would never have been able to conquer the Persian Empire and advance as far as India.
The reverse of a very rare didrachm of Amyntas II, King of Macedon around 394 BC (Fig. 21: Lot 1141), depicts a galloping horse, while the obverse shows the head of Apollo.
The Dr Druckrey Collection includes a beautiful stater from the city of Maroneia (Fig. 22: Lot 1118) with a depiction of a galloping horse, which points to Thracian horse breeding. The eagle above the horse is a mere symbol. Early on, Homer, in the Iliad, gave the Thracians the early label “horse-breeding” (ἱπποπόλος: XIII 4 and XIV 227) as an embellishing epithet. The Thracian king Rhesus, “… whose steeds are the most beautiful and largest I have seen, whiter than blinding snow, and as swift as the winds …”, came, as Homer recounts in the Iliad (X 436 f.), to Troy to assist King Priam in the fight against the Greeks.
Fig. 24: Drachm of Magnesia on the Meander. Auction 416, Lot 1223.
Estimate: 1,000 euros, Hammer Price: 2,200 euros
Fig. 25: Magnesia on the Meander (JN)
Horses of Asia Minor: Horses and the founding of cities
In several of its regions, Asia Minor in present-day Turkey (Fig. 23) was also a land of horses. This applies in particular to the Troás – the landscape where Troy is located – southern Asia Minor, and Cappadocia in the east. Cities such as the Carian Alabanda and the Pamphylian Aspendos were named in the ancient languages of Anatolia after the horse-breeding traditions in their territories; both city names mean “city of steeds”.
Horsemen played an important role in several cityfounding myths in Asia Minor. On the obverse of a drachm from the city of Magnesia on the River Meander (Fig. 24: Lot 1223) is an armoured rider with a flowing cloak and a long lance in his lowered right hand. He is the founder of Magnesia (Fig. 25), the
hero Leukippos (the white horse rider). A stele that once stood in Magnesia and is now kept on Berlin’s Museum Island tells the adventurous story of how Leukippos came from the Thessalian countryside to Magnesia, via Delphi and Crete, to the Meander and founded the city of Magnesia on that river in memory of his old homeland. White horses were considered magical horses that had a sense of the right location for a city and could show it to a colony founder. Leukippos of Magnesia is not the only Greek city founder of this name. Another Leukippos is said to have founded Metaponto in Lower Italy, and yet another is said to have been involved in the settlement of Rhodes. Leukippos is not a historical figure, but rather the mythical construct of a city founder. The ancient Germans also worshipped white horses, as Tacitus (Germania 10) reports. They gained knowledge from the behaviour of these animals. In the late Middle Ages, this special association with white horses led to the white Saxon- or Guelph steed, which can still be seen in the coats of arms of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia (Fig. 26).
Fig. 26: Coats of arms of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia
Fig. 27: Aspendos, arches of the pressurised water course (JN)
Estimate:
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The magic of a white horse and its rider is also reflected in Theodor Storm’s “The Rider on the White Horse”: The dike-keeper Hauke Haien’s white horse is believed by his superstitious neighbours to be the devil’s steed. On the reverse of the Leukipp drachma of Magnesia, a bull charging forward is depicted in a Meander circle that traces the course of the largest river in western Turkey. He embodies the river god Mäander, who often pushed his horns into the banks of his bed during floods, damaging the settlements and fields of the local residents. However, he also piled up fertile soil, on which grain fields produced high yields, as indicated by the ear of grain behind him. An official named Lykom(ḗdēs) (“man with a wolfish nature”) supervised the minting of this coin.
A horse also played an important role in the founding of the Pamphylian city of Aspendos (Fig. 27). According to myth, Greek cities were often founded in places where a hero could kill a difficult-to-hunt animal such as a wild boar or a dangerous predator. Such good fortune while hunting was interpreted as a sign that a deity was behind a man capable of the kill. By killing a wild animal that threatened and damaged the agriculture of a city and thus its livelihood, a successful hunter proved that he and his descendants would be able to secure the supply of a city. Thus, luck at hunting could be the starting point for founding a city. An exquisite stater from Aspendos, minted towards the end of the fifth or the beginning of the fourth century BC, depicts a horseman wearing a sun hat and galloping to the right, brandishing his lance (Fig. 28: 1262). On the reverse of the coin, we see the boar he has struck, with the hunter’s lance sticking out of its flank; blood drips from the animal’s wound onto the ground. We know from literature that this hunting scene depicts the Greek hero
Mopsos who, according to mythical traditions, migrated with his followers after the Trojan War (around 1200 BC) over the Tauros Mountains to Pamphylia and founded several cities there, including Aspendos. Mopsos’ successful hunt also involved a horse. Aspendos, which was supposedly founded by Mopsos, became famous for its horse-breeding. The name of the city probably means “town of horses”. When Aspendos was part of the Persian Empire (c. 540-334 BC), it was required to provide horses as tribute to the Persian king; Alexander the Great also demanded horses from the Aspendians for his Asian campaign.
A similar hunting scene in connection with the founding of a city, this time Bellerophon hunting a wild goat, is depicted on a stater of the Cilician city of Kelenderis (Fig. 29: Lot 1264).
A winged horse from Asia Minor gallops through European cultural history
The most famous and enduring horse from Asia Minor is undoubtedly Pegasos, the winged horse. He originated in the Tauros Mountains (Fig. 30), where he bore the lightning bolts of the Luwian storm- and tempest god Piḫaššašši. The Greeks were so taken with the idea of a horse galloping through the air that, when they resumed closer contact with the eastern Mediterranean region in the tenth century BC after the turmoil of the widespread migration of peoples after 1200 BC, they brought the winged horse back to Greece. When the Greeks adopted the winged horse, they changed the name Piḫaššašši –which was difficult for them to pronounce – to Pegasos. The origin of the winged horse in the East is reflected in Greek tradition: At the end of the seventh century BC, the early poet Hesiod related in his Theogony (“The
Fig. 28: Stater of Aspendos. Auction 416, Lot 1262.
1,250 euros, Hammer Price: 6,000 euros
Fig. 29: Stater of Kelenderis. Auction 416, Lot 1264.
1,000 euros, Hammer Price: 1,200 euros
Fig. 30: The Taurus Mountains as seen from Side (JN)
Origin of the Gods”) that Pegasos had flown out of the neck of the Gorgon living at the edge of the world when Perseus cut off the monster’s head. Pegasos was said to have flown to Mount Olympus, where Zeus stabled him. From then on, he was to carry his keeper’s thunderbolts.
Pegasos soon turned up in Corinth (Fig. 31), which maintained lively trade relations with Asia Minor and the Levant. There, when he drank from the city’s fountain Peirene, Pegasos was said to have been captured and harnessed by the hero Bellerophon with the help of the goddess Athena. Bellerophon then used Pegasos for numerous heroic deeds in Asia Minor. It is therefore no surprise that Pegasos and Athena adorned the staters of Corinth, coins which were popularly referred to as “foals” or “little horses” because of their beautiful depiction of the winged horse (Fig. 32: Lot 1183). However, many other Greek states were interested in the beautiful design of a winged horse, and often the background of some Pegasos depictions on coins is still hidden from us, such as on a drachm of the city Skepsis in the Troás (Fig. 33: Lot 1207). It shows an opulent representation of Pegasos on the obverse, but a stylised Troja fir, a subspecies of the Nordmann fir which became the most popular Christmas tree, on the reverse.
Finally, Pegasos made an appearance on Mount Helicon in Boeotia. The winged horse is said to have made the Hippukrḗnē (“horse spring”) bubble with his hoof. The Greeks associated the horse’s name with the Greek word pēgḗ (spring). Those who drank from the Hippukrḗnē could easily become poets in the surroundings of Apollo and the muses. Pegasos is also present in the famous painting by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), which is entitled “Parnass” but shows a scene on Mount Helicon
(Fig. 34). Hermes has just led the horse up so that it can make the Hippukrḗnē flow with a hoofbeat. The association of Pegasos with the muses, who were said to perform round dances on Mount Helicon, meant that the lightning horse became a muse horse, and today the phrase “to ride Pegasos” can be said of people who are artistically active. On a prize medal of Ludwig II of Bavaria, the female personification of Bavaria rides the Pegasos (Fig. 35: Lot 3733, eLive Auction 77) – a beautiful reminder that München at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century was a centre of the visual arts.
Fig. 31: Corinth, Peirene spring (JN)
Fig. 32: Stater of Corinth. Auction 416, Lot 1183.
Estimate: 250 euros, Hammer Price: 1,100 euros
Fig. 33: Drachm of Skepsis. Auction 416, Lot 1207.
Estimate: 250 euros, Hammer Price: 1,700 euros
A recommendation
The Dr Druckrey Collection, with its rare coins in excellent condition, is an invitation to further numismatic excursions into the world of the Greeks. The catalogue in which this collection has been “immortalised” allows everyone to follow their own particular interests and to explore further aspects of these coins. It is a great joy for every numismatist and historian to see how deeply coins allow us to penetrate the living environment of a culture that flourished more than 2,000 years ago, and created the foundations of our own culture in a wide variety of ways. Collecting coins and studying them in more detail is one of the most appealing ways to counteract the historical amnesia of our time.
Fig. 35: Ludwig II‘s silver prize medal. Live Auction 77, Lot 3733
Estimate: 100 euros, Hammer Price: 175 euros
Fig. 34: Andrea Mantegna, Parnassus (Louvre)
Gold, Shining Brightly
By Fritz Rudolf Künker
On 9 December 2010, a special exhibition on the subject of gold opened in Berlin, and its title “Gold Giants” was chosen quite consciously – for never before had so many large gold coins from antiquity to the present been shown in one place. The exhibition at the Bode Museum was a joint project of the Coin Cabinet of the Berlin State Museums and the Coin Cabinet of the Vienna Museum of Art History.
The directors responsible, Bernd Kluge in Berlin and Michael Alram in Vienna, published a highly-regarded catalogue for this exhibition. The volume, entitled “Goldgiganten – Das große Gold in der Münze und Medaille” published by the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, was of great significance.
You can get the book here:
I also wrote an article on the subject of gold for the “Goldgiganten” volume, which was published under the title “Gold coins as an investment – a shiny temptation or a crisis-proof way to secure your assets?” It appears in the book on pages 55 through 62 and is republished here:
Gold coins as an investment – a shiny temptation or a crisis-proof way to secure your assets?
For thousands of years, gold has held a special fascination. Long before the first gold coins were minted by the legendary King Croesus around 600 BC, gold jewellery was an important status symbol in ancient times. This fascination has not changed significantly to this day: The global demand for gold comes from both the jewellery industry and from the manufacturers of gold bars and gold coins for investment purposes. In many countries, gold jewellery has remained an important status symbol -- for example in India, where anyone who owns gold is considered wealthy, if not rich.
In recent times of financial and economic crises, gold has been rediscovered as an investment opportunity, after it was often ridiculed as antiquated and rarely recommended for investment purposes from 1980 to 2005. In the opinion of the financial and banking world, only hyper-innovative financial products should be considered for modern people in the 21st century. So the financial world and its mathematical geniuses
developed more and more new products that were often far removed from reality and simply no longer comprehensible to the average investor. Every product was absorbed by the market uncritically if it only promised a return above that of government bonds. No one wanted to recognise that this is only possible if the investor is willing to take high risks. In keeping with the motto “greed eats the brain”, the risks were ignored and only the opportunities were taken. A financial speculation that fed on itself, and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the USA and other financial institutions, triggered a global financial crisis that no one had anticipated. These events even made a global economic crisis seem possible on the horizon and made the collapse of the entire financial industry and the leading currencies, the dollar and the euro, conceivable.
However, that financial crisis has brought two facts into focus:
1. The worldwide debt of states has become a problem for which no one knows the solution. 2. The currencies of states that live beyond their means are increasingly the subject of doubt.
This also applies to the leading currencies, the dollar and the euro. The euro also has to contend with the difficulty that there is no uniform tax and fiscal policy in the EU member states, and the deficits of the euro countries vary greatly. As developments have shown, the deficit policy of a small euro country, such as Greece (with a gross domestic product equivalent to that of the German state of Hesse), can jeopardise the entire eurozone and concomitantly, the world economic system. The introduction of colossal rescue measures with a volume of 750 billion euros is an urgent attempt by the euro countries to save their own currency. At the moment, nobody can really predict the chances of its success. At any rate, the politicians have been able to help calm the situation for the time being: An important stabilisation of the financial markets has occurred, especially from a psychological point of view.
In times of crisis such as these, people are becoming more aware of gold as a crisis-proof asset, triggering increased demand. The consequences are price increases and shortages, coupled with the realisation that gold is much more than just a shiny yellow precious metal. The eventful and often bloody history of gold is
Exchange rate of the US dollar to the German deutschmark and the euro, as well as the gold price for a fine ounce in USD and for a one-kg bullion bar in euros, from 1968 to 2009. Calculated for the period 1968-2001 according to the official conversion rate for euro predecessor currencies: one euro = 1.95583 deutschmarks. Source: Deutsche Bundesbank. also part of the history of state currency policy. Even though the world’s currencies are no longer tied to gold, national gold reserves – including those here in Germany – still play an important role. To date, the
German Bundesbank has successfully resisted giving in to the demands of some politicians to sell off the national gold treasure on the open market in order to plug budget holes.
From currency metal to investment gold
The monetary history of the 19th century is characterised by the phenomenon that the most important currencies were gold currencies. There was therefore an obligation to redeem paper banknotes for gold.
Great Britain: On 22 June 1816, Great Britain declared the gold standard to be the national currency by law. On 1 May 1821, the full convertibility of the pound sterling into gold was guaranteed by law. In the 19th century, two-thirds of world trade was settled in pound sterling and the majority of currency reserves were held in pound sterling. The British currency thus became the world’s reserve currency.
USA: The Coinage Act of 27 June 1834 set the legal gold/silver exchange ratio at 1:16, thereby effectively introducing the gold standard.
Germany: In the German Empire, the Coinage Act of 9 July 1873 established the gold mark as the sole imperial currency. One mark was equivalent to 0.3592 grams of fine gold. The 20-mark piece thus had a fine gold content of 7.16 grams. The value of one kilogram of fine gold was equivalent to 2,784 marks. The introduction of the gold standard meant anobligation to convertibility. Every citizen was thus granted the right to exchange his cash for the corresponding amount of gold at the Reichsbank.
In times of crisis, however, convertibility could not always be maintained, and so the gold redemption obligation in the German Reich ended with the outbreak of the First World War on 4 August 1914. As a result of a later global economic crisis, the Bank of England suspended the gold redemption obligation for the British pound on 21 September 1931. In the USA, private ownership of gold (except for “small amounts”) was banned as of 1 May 1933. Executive Order 6102, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 5 April 1933, required all private owners to sell their gold to the state at the fixed price of 20.67 US dollars per ounce (31.1 g fine gold). This gold prohibition remained in force in the USA for more than 40 years, until 1 December 1974.
In Germany, the Reich gold coins were demonetised by decree of the Reich Minister of Finance on 16 August 1938. By 1 September 1938, all invalid domestic and foreign gold coins had to be offered to the Reichsbank for purchase. This meant that ownership of gold coins was effectively banned in Germany. The Reichsbank granted exceptions only for valuable collector’s items. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, on
13 September 1939, a complete confiscation of precious metals in the possession of commercial enterprises took place in the German Reich.
The US dollar as the world’s reserve currency
On 22 April 1944, the Bretton Woods Conference (New Hampshire) established an international monetary system under the leadership of the US dollar, which was backed by gold. A gold/dollar standard was created, setting an exchange ratio of 35 dollars per troy ounce of gold (31.1 g). This obliged the US Federal Reserve to exchange the dollar reserves of each member state of the currency system for gold at the agreed rate of 35 dollars per troy ounce. The Federal Republic of Germany joined the system of fixed exchange rates in 1949. The exchange rate for one dollar was DM 4.20. Until 1967, this did not change much, and the exchange rate for one dollar in 1967 was DM 3.99. The price of one kg of gold bullion in euros fluctuated between 2,400 and 2,600 euros, and was therefore also almost stable due to the government’s fixing of one ounce of fine gold at 35 dollars.
The rapid increase in US foreign liabilities after the Second World War made the obligation to redeem dollars in gold problematic. As early as 1960, the US foreign debt of 18.7 billion dollars exceeded the value of the national gold reserves (calculated at 35 US dollars per ounce).
The London Gold Pool, established in 1961 to maintain the gold price at 35 dollars, also failed to last long. In 1967, France, under President de Gaulle, refused to continue supporting the US dollar with additional gold deliveries. This resulted in the end of the artificiallyfixed gold price of 35 dollars per ounce of fine gold, and the decline of the US dollar as a convertible reserve currency in August 1971.
The system of floating exchange rates without a link to gold or dollars, and the long-term rise in the price of gold
On 19 March 1973, the Bretton Woods Agreement was replaced by a system of flexible exchange rates without a link to gold and/or dollars. The long-term trend was characterised by a decline in the US dollar and a rise in the price of gold, albeit with significant fluctuations. In the upswing years of 1971–1980, the price of an ounce of fine gold reached a record level of USD 850 on 21 January 1980 (one kg of gold approx. EUR 20,000). The subsequent downturn from 1980 to 2001 is marked by a low for the ounce of fine gold of 252.80 USD on 20 July 1999 (one kg of gold approx. 8,000 euros).
Since 2001, there has been an almost continuous increase in the price of gold, marked by an all-time high of 1,264.20 USD per ounce of fine gold on 21 June 2010 (one kg of gold approx. 35,000 euros). In just one decade, the price of gold in euros has almost quadrupled. Since 1999, some central banks have tried in vain to influence the price of gold by selling and thus positively influencing the reputation of paper currencies. In various agreements (Central Bank Gold Agreements), the volumes of gold sales by central banks were agreed at 400 to 500 tonnes per year, until 2014.
After the USA, the (federal) German Bundesbank currently holds the second largest state treasure in gold worldwide, with around 3,400 tonnes. However, with a value of around 100 billion euros at present, the German gold reserves cover only 5% of the total German national debt of 2,000 billion euros (= 2 trillion euros). In other words, with a population of 80 million, each citizen is responsible for an average of €25,000 of the national debt. In contrast, there are 42.5 g of state gold per capita, worth €1,250.
Experts estimate that the total amount of gold currently held worldwide is 166,000 tonnes. This treasure trove of gold currently has a market value of around 5,000 billion euros (= 5 trillion euros). German national debt amounts to two trillion euros in total. Thus 40% of the world’s gold reserves would be needed just to cover Germany’s national debt. While this a purely theoretical consideration, it shows that either Germany’s national debt is very high or the world’s gold reserves are relatively small.
Gold mines produce around 2,600 tonnes of “new” gold annually, with production costs averaging around 700 dollars per ounce of fine gold. This production price should provide strong support for the lower price level in the event that the gold price comes under pressure.
The most important investment gold coins (one ounce) by year of first issue. Fbg. = Friedberg: Gold Coins of the World, 2009.
Germany played a prominent role in private demand for gold in 2009, with 134 tonnes. Traditionally, however, important demand impulses also come from the US and, more recently, from India and China, where from 1949 to 1982 the private ownership of gold was forbidden. In practice, it was hardly even possible to acquire gold in the People’s Republic of China until 1998. The ban on private ownership of gold in the United States, which was introduced in 1933, was repealed by President Gerald Ford in 1974.
The latest developments show that the demand for gold is also being driven by some central banks, such as those of China and India. This is a further indication that the central banks regard gold as an important currency reserve and do not want to rely solely on world currencies such as the dollar, the euro, or the yen. In 2009, the total gold holdings of all gold-owning central banks worldwide amounted to 27,000 tonnes, only 16% of the total global gold supply. In 1980, 60% of currencies were hedged with gold, but by June 2010 this figure had fallen to 10.7%.
Investment gold coins and gold bars
Almost simultaneously with the end of the artificiallyfixed gold price at 35 dollars per ounce of fine gold and the abandonment of fixed exchange rates to the US dollar, the krugerrand appeared on the world market in 1967 as the first investment gold coin, and has become a symbol for investment gold coins (see cat. V.2.1). At the time of its first issue, the krugerrand cost about 160 German Marks (about 82 euros). The current market price is around 1,000 euros. The krugerrand contains 1 troy ounce of fine gold. It is now also available in smaller denominations of 1/2, 1/4, 1/10 and 1/20 troy ounce of fine gold. With the increasing importance of investment gold, other countries have also issued gold ounces in coin form.
The investment gold coins are traded at a premium of 5% to 15%, with the premium in relation to the gold value being highest for the small denominations.
In addition to investment gold coins, the market also supplies gold bars, usually in the following denominations: 1000 g, 500 g, 250 g, 200 g, 100 g, 50 g, 20 g, 10 g, 5 g, 2 g and 1 g. The premium for gold bars is only about 2% for large denominations, and up to 20% for smaller ones due to high manufacturing costs.
In the European Union, the purchase of investment gold is exempt from sales tax (VAT exemption in accordance with § 25c para. 2 of the German VAT Act). In Germany, speculative gains on gold are tax-free if the holding period of one year is observed. Since wealth tax has
The most important investment gold coins (1 ounce gold)
5 Australia (kangaroo)
6 USA (eagle)
7 Great Britain (Britannia)
8 Austria (Vienna Philharmonic)
9 Singapore (lion’s head).
been abolished in Germany, no citizen is required to state how much gold they own in their tax declaration.
Investing in gold is not only possible by buying physical gold in the form of coins or bars, but also by acquiring gold certificates via the stock markets. Buying and selling gold bars and coins is possible at banks, precious metal dealers and some coin dealers. An important advantage of physical gold is that it can be easily sold worldwide. This has made gold more than ever an internationally-recognised surrogate currency.
Should private investors buy gold?
This question is asked time and again and is not so easy to answer. I would like to share two personal experiences that are part of the answer.
In Berlin, I met a collector who was a professor of medicine. He told me that he collected American 20-dollar coins by year of issue (there are about 80 different years). When I asked him how it came about that a German collector specialised in this somewhat unusual field, he gave me an answer that made me
think. His family had a series of 20-dollar coins, and in the period of greatest need from 1945 to 1947, his family was able to survive for a month on a 20-dollar coin. In this emergency situation, gold was the best possible investment because it ensured the survival of the family.
In the 1970s and 1980s in Stuttgart, there was a display case in the counter hall of the Baden-Württembergische Bank on Kleiner Schlossplatz with a pyramid whose tip was gilded. As I recall, the slogan next to the pyramid read “Gold is superior as an investment”. I still find this statement impressive today because it expresses several facts very aptly: Gold can be a particularly good investment, especially in times of need and crisis. Gold is inflation-proof. However, the golden tip of the bank’s pyramid also showed that only the “tip” of the wealth, i.e. about 5 to 10%, should be invested in gold: The base of the pyramid consisted of other forms of investment, such as real estate, stocks and bonds. Gold is not suitable for short-term speculation because the price was and will continue to be subject to strong fluctuations. If an investor were to buy a certain amount of gold each month – for example, one ounce or a multiple thereof -- they would eventually have a very special money box: They would be buying at an average price, which would at least partially protect them against strong fluctuations. At the end of the investment period, a monthly additional pension would be available, or a respectable amount for a higher investment. For example, anyone who had bought one ounce per month over the last 20 years would have access to a fortune of around €240,000 today. The investment would have been around €80,000. Investors should be aware that gold does not yield any interest and that the secure storage of gold is even associated with running costs.
Investment gold as a bridge to numismatics
Many investors who were initially only interested in investment gold coins have eventually come into contact with a completely different world, namely numismatics. Numismatics represents not only more than 2,500 years of minted history, but also an introduction to dealing with deeper historical contexts for the interested collector. Scholars and collectors agree that, once they have been bitten by the coin collecting bug, it is a habit that will stay with them for life.
Coin collecting can be a lot of fun even on a small budget. However, there is an adventurous example from the USA of coin megalomania and exorbitant pricing by European standards. One 1933 $20 gold coin, which sold at auction in New York in 2002 for around $7.5 million, combines economic history, the aura of
its famous previous owner -- King Farouk of Egypt -- and state arrogance, in a unique way. Since private ownership of gold was banned in the USA in 1933, the last 20-dollar coin was never issued. Only two examples of this vintage ended up in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, and the famous coin collector King Farouk was granted an export permit by the US authorities for a third example in the early 1940s. Before the piece could be auctioned in New York in 2002, the owner, who had fallen on hard times and had even been briefly arrested in the United States, was forced to hire lawyers to prove at great expense that, contrary to the suspicions of the US authorities, this high-carat gold coin had come into his possession completely legally. The export licence for King Farouk had since been forgotten and could only be found with difficulty, and found actually more by chance, by the owner’s lawyers.
Outlook
Almost 15 years have passed since the Berlin exhibition ended, and the topic of gold is more relevant today than ever. While the price of the one-kg bar was quoted by the Bundesbank at €22,440 at the end of 2009, it was €82,000 at the end of 2024.
But gold is also always in the sights of criminals. On the night of 27 March 2017, for example, the “Big Maple Leaf” was stolen from the Bode Museum: 100 kilograms of pure gold with a face value of one million dollars, issued by Canada in 2007. What can private investors learn from this? Namely this: Gold should not be kept at home, but in a safe deposit box at a bank.
At the beginning of the exhibition in December 2010, the Big Maple Leaf was worth around 3.4 million euros. When it was stolen in 2017, its value was around 3.7 million euros, and at the end of 2024 it would have been worth around 8.2 million euros. In the period from the end of 2009 to the end of 2024, the price of gold more than tripled.
Lisbon: The Museu do Dinheiro
Portugal’s central bank has its own museum in a prime location, dedicated entirely to money. It is home to many exciting exhibits, including, of course, numerous coins – and the pieces are of the highest quality! But lovers of banknotes and monetary history will also find much to marvel at.
By Ursula Kampmann
Actually, we just wanted to get away from the crazy tourist crowds flooding the Praça do Comércio from the nearby cruise ship dock. So there we were, a little annoyed, at the Praça do Municipio, trying to figure out what to do on this beautiful day. Then my eyes fell on a large sign on the corner of a church that read “Museu do Dinheiro”. I have not the slightest idea of the Portuguese language, but I certainly recognize the word “money” – even if it is written in Portuguese. Of course, we immediately decided to visit the museum. It provided us with two hours of wonderful entertainment.
How to Recycle a Baroque Church
Instead of constructing a new building, the Portuguese central bank decided to transform the Church of S. Julião into a museum. The imposing church of little art-historical interest was first built after the earthquake of 1755 and has been remodeled several times. As the number of active religious orders in Lisbon has been decreasing since the 19th century, the church decided to deconsecrate the building and sell it. They quickly found a buyer – the Banco de Portugal was interested. It wanted to demolish the church to build its new
The Museu do Dinheiro is housed in a former church. Photo: KW.
headquarters on the centrally located lot. Thus, the entire building changed hands for 10 million escudos on 7 June 1933. But the project failed because they did not get an official building permit. So the central bank had to come up with a plan for what to do with the huge church.
At the beginning of the millennium, they decided to turn it into a museum. They found an innovative scenography studio that saw the architectural problems as a challenge and designed an attractive money museum, which opened its doors on 19 April 2016. Since then, Lisbon has had a numismatic attraction that is even free of charge. Nevertheless, it is
a good idea to go to the “ticket office”, where you will get a free ticket to use the various knowledge stations. Particularly popular are the quizzes that can be found throughout the museum that visitors can use to test their numismatic, economic and historical knowledge. It’s a really fun idea that you shouldn’t miss.
State-of-the-Art Technology and Amazing Exhibits
This brings us to a typical characteristic of the Museu do Dinheiro: it was not built for numismatists, but for the general public. The museum aims to explain how money works and how exciting the history of money is. And there are many interactive stations to do just that. At the very beginning, there is a computer in the shape of a human that asks visitors to trade with it. A few rooms later, an interactive map encourages visitors to put the exhibits in their geographical and historical context.
Classical Numismatics at its Finest
Sometimes people forget that visitors do not come to a museum to play with computers, but to see fascinating objects. This is not the case at the Museu do Dinheiro! On the contrary. All the objects you can see on the interactive map can be found a few meters away in the so-called treasure vault. And believe me: it really is a treasure vault with a rich selection of rare coins. Only collectors or experts will be able to appreciate the true quality of these pieces. There are the most exquisite ancient issues of exceptional quality, a wealth of world rarities (for example a 10-ryo oban of 18601862), and of course everything related to Portuguese coinage: coins of the Visigoths, the Almoravids, evidence of the entire history of the portugaleser including its many early North German imitations, and then, of course, at the center the coins of the Portuguese kings, plus a large selection of bars made of Brazilian gold and much, much more.
While the nave remains intact as a magnificent foyer, the side aisles were turned into a museum. Photo: KW.
The entrance is behind a thick vaulted door; the former lockers function as a cloakroom. Photo: KW.
Bring plenty of time! Taking a close look is definitely worth it!
Portuguese Monetary History
While few visitors will realize how incredible the exhibits in the treasure vault are, the exhibition on Portuguese monetary history is rather amusing, full of stories and appealing to the general public. And the material is so well prepared that even specialists can learn a lot.
For example, have you ever heard of Artur Alves dos Reis? You may well think of him as one of the greatest counterfeiters of his time. In 1925, he caused a crisis that became internationally known as the Portuguese Bank Note Crisis.
Artur Alves dos Reis actually started by forging a single document – a contract on behalf of the Banco de Portugal. This document allowed him to have banknotes printed because the consortium he represented had supposedly granted a large loan for the development of Angola. The reason this coup succeeded was that the Banco de Portugal had a very bad reputation at home and abroad for its loose monetary policy. That’s why people believed Artur Alves dos Reis when he claimed that the Banco de Portugal had insisted on secrecy and had not informed the public about the secret increase in the money supply. The famous banknote printer Waterlow and Sons Ltd. fell victim to Artur Alves dos Reis’s scheme and printed a “second issue” of Portuguese banknotes for him with printing plates that
Tremissis of the Visigoths, minted in Evora.
Photo: KW.
Portugaleser with German imitation. Photo: KW.
Dinar of the Almoravids from AD 1130, minted in Morocco.
Photo: KW.
Dobrao (24,000 réis) by King João V, minted in 1724 in Minas Gerais.
Photo: KW.
Modern technology meets a traditional exhibition: all objects included in the interactive map can be found in the actual exhibition. Photo: UK.
A “shrimp”, as the counterfeits of the Portuguese fraudster Artur Alves dos Reis were called. This name came about because the banknotes were soaked in highly diluted acid to remove the odor of fresh ink. This gave them a slightly different color than the originals, which reminded users of shrimp. Photo: KW.
had already been used in the past. In this way, 200,000 banknotes of 500 Portuguese escudos with a total value of 100 million were printed. At the time, that was almost one percent of the Portuguese gross national product. When the money was introduced into the Portuguese economy by Artur Alves dos Reis and his partners, it caused an economic boom. The group made enormous profits, and invested some of the money to buy shares in the Banco de Portugal. If they got the majority, this would have allowed them to legalize their fraud.
But other businessmen became suspicious. They suspected a German scheme behind this. They thought the German government was trying to buy important Portuguese companies. A newspaper sent journalists to investigate, and to their surprise they found out that it wasn’t the German government, but the famous young entrepreneur Artur Alves dos Reis who was behind the scheme. By the end of 1925, the fraud was exposed and all counterfeit banknotes were declared invalid.
The exhibition on Portuguese monetary history. In the background the in-house café, where you can take a break and enjoy coffee and pastries. Photo: KW.
This economic disaster was a devastating blow to the reputation of the First Portuguese Republic. Today, it is debated whether and to what extent the banknote crisis facilitated António de Oliveira Salazar’s rise to power.
How Is Money Produced?
There is one thing we have not yet talked about on our journey through the world of money – the production of money. An entire hall is dedicated to this topic. It displays many interesting tools and semi-products from the past and present. You will find coining dies and punches just like a guilloche machine, which was used in the past to create the fine lines on banknotes. Finally, there is again a bit of theory. In a small room, there are several computers that allow visitors to play central banker. In this way, you can learn what monetary policies cause inflation and what policies lead to a stable currency.
By the way, do not miss out on exploring the basement, where you can see part of the city wall built by King Dinis (1279-1325).
And before you leave the exhibition, you can touch an actual standard gold bar at the ticket office. This is very appropriate for a museum on Portuguese money. During the Estado Novo, the Banco de Portugal relied on a strict gold standard. This has resulted in Portugal having huge gold reserves to this day. Internationally, Portugal is the country with the 14th largest gold reserves after the USA, Germany, the International Monetary Fund, Italy, France, Russia, China, Switzerland, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Turkey, the ECB, Poland and Taiwan.
By the way, the museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm. During the week, you will have to share the museum with school classes.
Last but not least: Visit the museum shop! It has a rich selection of numismatic souvenirs.
Insights into euro coin production. Photos: KW.
1,000 Years of Coin History
A special collection of Byzantine coins in our eLive Auction 86 from 3 - 7 March 2025
By Rebecca Schuffenhauer
When the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (who reigned 306-337) made the small town of Byzantium, which was later named Constantinople after him, the new capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD, he established a new centre in Eastern Europe. At the latest, it became the focal point of the eastern half of the Roman Empire with the so-called division of the Empire in 395 under Emperor Theodosius I (who reigned 379395). “Byzantium” is the modern-day eponym for the Byzantine Empire. (Sommer 2010, p. 13)
It was also Theodosius who, on 8 November 392, banned all forms of pagan worship and thus effectively made Christianity the state religion. Nevertheless, the rulers in Constantinople saw themselves as Roman Emperors just as much as had been their predecessors in the West, and understood the Eastern Roman Empire as a Roman Empire.
However, with the death of Julius Nepos in 480 (not, as is often claimed, with the deposition of Romulus Augustus), the rule of Rome in the West came to an end. In 491, Anastasius I (reigned 491518) was the first Emperor of the East who had no counterpart in the West. At the same time, the sphere of influence of Constantinople shrank to Asia Minor, the Balkans and parts of North Africa.
In the 6th century, Justinian I (r. 527-565) managed –in expansive military campaigns against the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Visigoths – to expand the empire’s
Emperor Justinian I, a mosaic in the Church of San Vitale: This shows the unification of military, administrative and ecclesiastical power in the person of the Emperor. Photo: Wikimedia
borders for the last time to include Italy and southern Spain. At the same time, he temporarily pacified the conflict on the eastern Byzantine border with the Persian Sassanids and achieved a peace agreement –which, however, cost the empire a high tribute. Justinian’s work was also of great importance in domestic politics. He had the Hagia Sophia built and the Corpus Iuris Civilis written, thereby shaping the legal system long after his death (Fig. 550 AD).
(Sommer 2010, p. 13)
After the transfer of power to Justin II (r. 565-578), the Eastern Roman Empire initially experienced a phase of destabilisation, which was accompanied by territorial losses, financial problems, internal power struggles, and renewed conflicts with the Sassanids. It was only
Heraclius (r. 610-641) who was able to stabilise the situation by military campaigns to the east, and who created a new administrative structure with the so-called “themes constitution”. At the same time, the Greek language finally replaced Latin as the official imperial language, once again shifting the cultural context into a Greek-Hellenistic tradition. Nevertheless, Latin legends can still be found on the coins of the 7th century; it was only in the 10th century that the complete conversion to Greek was complete. (Sommer 2010, p. 13)
Even after the death of Heraclius, internal power struggles, intrigues, and external threats to the borders remained formative for the history of the Eastern Roman Empire. In the 8th and 9th centuries, religious conflicts also arose. During the iconoclasm, “iconoclasts” and “iconodules” bitterly fought over the correct interpretation of the Christian faith. Rulers from both camps took turns occupying the imperial throne. The question of whether Christ could be depicted, or whether such depictions were a heretical presumption, finally led to the schism in 1014, from which the Orthodox and Western churches emerged. (Sommer 2010, p. 14)
A final phase of lasting political stability in the East Roman Empire occurred under Basil II (r. 976-1025). He ruled for almost 50 years, suppressed the power struggles within the empire, and defeated the Bulgarians, who were pressing on the empire from the northeast (Fig. 1025 AD). In the following period, the imperial foreign policy was characterised by new conflicts, this time with the Seljuks. The Eastern Roman Empire increasingly lost its importance in relation to the surrounding political powers. After the empire fell into the hands of European crusaders in 1204, large parts of the Greek-Byzantine nobility fled to Nicaea and Trebizond, where they established their own dominions. The area around Constantinople, on the other hand, was consolidated as the “Latin Empire”. It was not until 1261 that Michael VIII (r. 1261-1282) succeeded in expelling the “Latins” from Constantinople and reunifying the Eastern Roman Empire, albeit with a considerably reduced territory (Fig. 1270 AD). The dynasty of the Palaeologians he founded ruled for almost 200 years, but was politically insignificant in the contentious interplay of the
surrounding powers. The end of the Eastern Roman Empire after almost 1,000 years was finally sealed by the Ottoman Turks when they took Constantinople in 1453. (Sommer 2010, p. 14)
The changing fortunes of the Eastern Roman Empire are also reflected in its coinage of the time. In our eLive Auction 86 (24 - 28 February 2025), we are therefore particularly pleased to be auctioning off a collection that covers a large part of the diverse range of Byzantine coinage, and also stands out for its exceptional qualities and rarities.
The Byzantine emperors had coins minted in gold, silver and bronze, and after the coin reform under Alexios I (r.1081-1118) in the 11th century, in corresponding alloys. The leading nominal, introduced under Constantine I and predominant for a long period, was the solidus, which was also issued in a reduced form in the 6th and 7th centuries. A new gold coin was introduced by Nicephorus II (r. 963-969) with the tetarteron, which was initially issued alongside the solidus before the latter was replaced by the histamenon. (Sommer 2010, p. 16; Nishimura 2012, p. 22)
Histamena and later silver and bronze coins developed as of the 11th century in a characteristic shape, initially concave and then completely bowl-shaped. The almost invariably occurring planchet cracks and various minting weaknesses are evidence of the difficult minting process involved (Fig. 5). There are numerous attempts to explain why this shape of planchet was chosen, ranging from considerations that the coins would have stacked better in this way, to the more pleasant sound of concave shapes, to the better usability of the coins in the course of a game of skill. More realistic, however, is the assumption that at the beginning of the parallel minting of tetartera and histamena, the difference in weight was too small to distinguish between the two denominations, so that the shape made differentiation easier. The sheer size of the planchet can also be explained by practical considerations, as the gold content continuously decreased from 1030 to 1080 – so that the alleged gold coins under Nikephorus III (r. 10781081) were ultimately more than half silver. With the weight standard remaining the same, this meant that much more material had to be used for the individual planchet. However, a higher silver content also makes coins more brittle, so that the bowl-shaped design achieved greater durability than a comparatively thin but flat planchet. (Markowitz 2014)
The debasement of gold coins was to continue, so that even electrum coinage consisted of only silver by the time of the Latin Empire, at the latest. Even hyperpera after 1261 contained only 50-60% gold. The supposed
Fig. 1
Anastasius. Solidus, 491/498, Constantinopolis, 10th offizin. Almost Extremely Fine.
Estimate: €300
Fig. 2
Justin I. Solidus, 518/519, Constantinople, 2nd offizin. Extremely Fine.
Estimate: €300
Fig. 3
Michael II and Theophilus. Miliaresion, 821/829, Constantinople. Extremely Fine.
Estimate: €125
Fig. 4
Justinian II, first reign. Solidus, 692/695, Constantinople, 6th offizin. Extremely Fine.
Estimate: 1,500 euros
Fig. 5
Isaac I Comnenus. Histamenon (Scyphat), 1057-1059, Constantinople. Very Fine.
Estimate: 600 euros
Fig. 6
John III. Hyperperon (Scyphat), 1222-1254, Magnesia. Very Fine to Extremely Fine.
Estimate: 200 euros
Fig. 7
Constans II. 1/2 miliaresion, 651/654, Constantinopolis.
Almost Very Fine to Very Fine.
Estimate: 750 euros
8
John VIII. Stavraton, 1423-1448, Constantinopolis. Very Fine.
Estimate: 100 euros
9
Justin II and Sophia. Follis, before 570, Cherson. Good to Very Fine.
Estimate: 750 euros
Fig. 10
Nicephorus II Miliaresion, 963-969, Constantinople. Almost Extremely Fine.
Estimate: 100 euros
Fig. 11
Manuel I. Hyperpyron (Scyphat), 1152/1160, Constantinopolis. Almost Extremely Fine.
Estimate: 250 euros
gold coins of the Byzantine Empire were thus no longer competitive compared to the currencies of surrounding powers, so that foreign trade was severely affected. (Sommer 2010, p. 16)
Silver coins were also issued in different denominations: siliquae as early as late antiquity, hexagrammata for the first time under Heraclius, and miliaresia (Figs. 3 and 10) beginning under Leo III (r. 717-741). (Sommer 2010, p. 15)
However, one coinage of Constans II (r. 641-668) is unusual, as its nominal designation and intended use are discussed differently in research (Fig. 7). The ½ miliaresion or siliqua is reminiscent of depictions of the Umayyad ruler Abd al-Malik, and otherwise only occurs on folles from Syracuse under Constans II. This may be an example of the cultural interrelations and influences that also affected the Byzantine Empire from the east. The rarity of these silver coins also led to the assumption that they were not regular issues for everyday use, but rather coins that were given as donations in the context of coronations. (Bendall 2005, p. 306; Sommer 2010, p. 203)
The importance of silver coins increased continuously as the debasement of the gold coins progressed. From the middle of the 14th century, gold coinage was abandoned altogether and the stavraton (Fig. 8) took the place of the highest nominal. (Nishimura 2012, pp. 23-24)
The largest bronze coin issues were in the form of folles and fractional pieces. These coins, often with an indication of value, were initially minted in numerous mints of the Byzantine Empire, including those at Constantinople, Nicomedia, Cyzicus, Alexandria, Carthage, Syracuse and Cherson. Of particular interest are the depictions of the emperors together with their wives and, in some cases, their designated successors. This was an attempt to signal the stability of the empire through genealogical reliability (Fig. 9). Later, centralising tendencies emerged that restricted bronze coinage to a few mints. (Sommer 2010, p. 21; Nishimura 2012, p. 23)
The coin designs initially followed the well-known Roman traditions, but were then adapted to the changed needs under the new state religion, Christianity. Anastasius and Justin I (r. 518-527) (Figs. 1 and 2) had the Graeco-Roman goddess of victory Victoria depicted on the reverses of their coins. Unlike in previous centuries, however, the goddess is shown neither wearing a wreath nor holding a palm branch, but rather holding a long cross or a “christogram” rod. It was only after the religious schism between Rome and Constantinople was resolved in 519 that the standing male angel replaced Victoria (Sear 1987, p. 44).
Fig.
Fig.
After the iconodules had prevailed in the iconoclasm, Christ, the Virgin Mary and various saints became regular subjects in coin images. Justinian II (r. 685-711) had a portrait of Christ displayed on the obverse of his coins for the first time (Fig. 4), followed by the image of Mary under Leo VI (r. 886-912). Consequently, only the reverse sides were left for the depiction of the emperors. The inextricable fusion of secular and religious concerns in the person of the ruler becomes clear. He sometimes appears in the loros, the symbol of Christ’s shroud, sometimes with a chlamys, the short riding- and travelling cloak. The symbolised attributes he carried, be it the terrestrial globe as a symbol of the emperor’s secular power, the labarum as a military insignia, the patriarchal cross as a symbol of ecclesiastical power, or the dust-filled akakia, which symbolised transience, also represented the emperor’s different spheres of influence (Fig. 11). (Sommer 2010, p. 17)
The images on the coins also provide insights into how the emperors saw themselves as rulers. Coins from the 10th and 11th centuries increasingly show the emperor at the moment of his coronation. The coronation is sometimes performed by a saint, by the Virgin Mary, or by Christ himself (Fig. 6). Coins of John I (r. 969976) actually show the hand of God performing the coronation. It is interesting to note that it was mainly emperors who began their reign as usurpers who resorted to such depictions. In this way, they tried to compensate for their lack of dynastic legitimacy by claiming a reign granted by divine grace. In such images the emperor also becomes part of a divine sphere and is thus invulnerable to his critics.
That the reverses of this period did not follow only stereotypes and Christian traditions is shown by the coins of Isaac I (r. 1057-1059) (Fig. 5). Unlike his predecessors, he does not depict himself at the moment of his coronation, but shows himself in military attire. In doing so, he rejected the ideology that his power was of divine origin and instead emphasised his military virtus. However, Isaac was only able to hold on to the throne for two years before his successor, Constantine X (r. 1059-1067), returned to the depiction of the coronation by the Virgin Mary. (Maladakis 2008, pp. 342-349).
Literature
Bendall, Simon, A New Silver Ceremonial Coin of Constans II (A.D. 641-668), NumCirc CXIII/5, 2005, S. 306.
Maladakis, Vangelis, The Coronation of the Emperor on Middle Byzantine Coinage: A Case of Christian Political Theology (10th-Mid 11th C.), Acta Musei Varnaensis VII/1, Varna 2008, S. 342-360.
Markowitz, Mike, Why Did Byzantine Coinage Become Cup-Shaped in the 11th Century?, Coinweek, 2014. Nishimura, Michiya, Use of Money in the Byzantine Empire: Some Examples of Transactions, Mediterranean World 21, 2012, S. 21-32.
Sear, David, Byzantine Coins and Their Values, London² 1987.
Sommer, Andreas Urs, Die Münzen des Byzantinischen Reiches 491-1453, Regenstauf 2010.
Hagia Sophia in Istanbul: Justinian I had the present-day mosque consecrated as a church in 537. Photo: Wikimedia.
The Coinage History of the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia –some aspects, some coins
By Johannes Nollé
The circumstances leading up to the war, which bear many similarities to those in our own time
The collection “The coinage of the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia”, which will be sold at our Berlin Auction 418 on 29 January 2025, has a relevance that we could not have wished for. The tensions that led to the war that devastated and changed Europe in 1618 are fatally similar to those of our time.
In the heart of Europe, there was a backlog of reforms that particularly affected the Holy Roman Empire. That empire was an entity that was still deeply rooted in medieval structures, and had no answers to the current problems and demands of a new era shaped by the Renaissance and the Reformation. The most important prerequisite for the functioning of the Sacrum Imperium Romanum was the unity of the Christian faith, which had long since been broken. Neither the Habsburgs’ usurped emperorship (the Holy Empire) nor the decadent papacy (the Holy See), which was far removed from the teachings of Christ, enjoyed the respect that these institutions labelled as “holy” demanded. Human failings on the part of political and religious leaders increasingly gave rise to disobedience, rebellion and resistance to the existing order, but also to disorientation and fear. The period before the Thirty Years’ War was an age of widespread fear.
The Holy Roman Empire disintegrated into regional and local sovereignties, Christianity split into numerous denominations -- almost all of which rejected the supremacy of the papacy and often also questioned the emperorship that cooperated with it, but were mostly quarrelling among themselves. The technical knowledge and inventiveness of the humanists revolutionised warfare: The ever more efficient use of gunpowder, the improvement of long-range weapons (especially artillery), the newly-developed sophisticated construction of fortifications, and the new knowledge
Zainende,
Estimate: 30,000 euros
gained from ancient writings about strategy and tactics on the battlefield, made wars increasingly cruel and brutal.
The invention of printing had also ushered in a new era of communication: Pamphlets allowed information to be disseminated more quickly than before, but also gave rise to fears that had not existed before. Martin Luther knew how to use these new media opportunities for his Reformation.
. The decline of the imperial power, which had no efficient military force at its disposal, offered the neighbours of the empire promising opportunities to add peripheral areas of it to their own spheres of influence, or to those peripheral areas themselves to break away from the empire as independent state entities -- as was the case with the Swiss Confederation and the Dutch General States. In his expansionist concepts,
Fig. 1: Auction 418, Lot 3 Kingdom of France. Louis XIII, 1610-1643. Dix louis d‘or à la tête laurée 1640 A, Paris. Extremely rare. Attractive example with beautiful gold patina, small
very fine.
Cardinal Richelieu aimed for the Rhine as France’s eastern border, but at the same time feared being surrounded by the powerful Habsburg dynasty. Not only did the Habsburgs routinely provide the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, they were also in the process of building an ever-expanding territorial state in Central and Eastern Europe, but also in Italy. The Habsburgs also ruled in Spain, thereby arousing fears of encirclement in France, which in turn sought supremacy in Europe. Sweden’s newly-emerging Baltic empire tried to bring imperial territories under its rule in the north.
Coins as contemporary witnesses
The various areas of tension of the Thirty Years’ War become visible and tangible in the magnificent coins of the collection mentioned at the beginning of this piece. At our Berlin auction, the greatest rarities and most magnificent pieces from the time of the Thirty Years’ War will be auctioned, highlighting the tensions mentioned and being the best contemporary witnesses to the war from that period. In the context of this Exclusiv article, I would like to present only a few selected pieces, but these can give an idea of the dimensions of this collection.
France’s expansionism
A ten-fold Louis d‘or weighing 67.46 g from 1640 shows the head of Louis XIII of France (King from 1610-1643) with a laurel wreath (Fig. 1). His portrait was modelled on that of the Roman emperors. This suggests that the French King also saw himself in the tradition of the Roman emperors and the Imperium Romanum, and thus sought to compete with the Sacrum Imperium Romanum of the Habsburg emperors. On the reverse, an elaborate cross is constructed from the initials L-I-S, the first letters of Louis’s name: The arms of the cross are crowned and the French fleur-de-lis is placed between them. In the inscription, the beginning of the hymn sung at papal, imperial and royal coronations, “Christus vincit, regnat et imperat” (“Christ conquers, reigns and commands”), can be read. Even at the dawning of a new era, the French King clung to his medieval holiness.
The role of the French King and France is reflected in a painting from the famous Medici cycle (1621-1624) by Peter Paul Rubens, entitled “La Majorité du Roy Louis
XIII” (Fig. 2). The young King is seated on a ship with his crown and sceptre. His mother, Maria de’ Medici, is with him; she handed over power to him when he came of age. In the centre of the ship, in front of the mast, stands Gallia, holding a flaming sword in her raised right hand and the globe in her left. Prudentia is taking care of the sails. The stars of the Dioscuri shine on the yard, promising a safe journey. The ship is rowed by the personifications of Fortitude (Fortitudo), Religion (Religio), Justice (Justitia) and Harmony (Concordia). They can be identified by the shields they are holding. When Louis XIII came to the throne at the age of nine in 1610 after the assassination of his father, Henry IV, power was initially exercised by his power-hungry mother, Maria de’ Medici. In 1615, Maria arranged a double wedding: Louis’s marriage to the Spanish princess Anne of Austria and that of Louis’s sister Elisabeth to the Spanish heir to the throne, Philip IV. It was an energetic attempt to gain influence in Spain in order to loosen the Habsburg stranglehold.
Fig. 2: Rubens, Medici Cycle, La Majorité de Roy, engraving by Antoine Trouvain from 1710 (reproduction of the painting in reverse).
After Louis had freed himself from his mother’s tutelage in 1617, shortly before the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War, he largely left the steering of France’s destiny to his Prime Minister Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) beginning in 1624. His main objectives were to strengthen the central power of the crown by eliminating Huguenot bases in France; to massively reduce the power of the nobility; to make the French church largely independent of the Pope (Gallicanism); and, above all, to weaken the power of the Habsburgs in order to give France supremacy in Europe. This also led to Richelieu forming alliances with Protestant countries such as the Dutch Republic and Sweden. He supported the latter with a great deal of money, enabling the Swedes to advance as far as southern Germany. After the death of the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Lützen (1632) and the defeat of the Swedes at the Battle of Nördlingen (1634), Richelieu attacked the Empire directly by enlisting the Protestant mercenary Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, who invaded Alsace and Franche-Comté. In the end, Richelieu came into conflict with him over ownership of the fortress of Breisach. Bernhard died in 1639, and suspicions were expressed that Richelieu had had him poisoned. The reign of Louis XIII and Richelieu’s policies provided the model and starting point for the aggressive policies of the “Sun King” Louis XIV. The well-known modern historian Ernst Walter Zeeden described Richelieu’s actions in the Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte (Handbook of German History) as follows: “With Richelieu, the style of foreign policy in Europe began to change. It became characterised by coldness. With the actions of the state, the demon
Strasbourg
Extremely rare. Very attractive example with fine gold tinting, almost extremely fine.
Estimate: 20,000 euros
of power came to life in a way that had been unknown throughout the Middle Ages and the era of religious wars.”
In the Peace of Westphalia, the Habsburg possessions in Alsace and the fortress of Breisach fell to the French King. Strasbourg was left untouched for the time being, but the economy of the once-prosperous city had suffered greatly during the Thirty Years’ War. Despite its precarious economic situation, the city minted a triple ducat in 1650 (Fig. 3), which is extremely rare and apparently was not intended for normal circulation. It may have served as a diplomatic gift. On the obverse of the triple ducat, the coin is depicted in a wreath consisting of the palm of peace and a laurel branch, and is labelled in Latin as “ducat of the Republic of Strasbourg”. Above it is the Strasbourg city lily, which has been used by the city as a signet since the Middle Ages. In contrast to the French lily emblem, the Strasbourg lily is an open flower. The reverse of the triple ducat shows the coat of arms of the city of Strasbourg. The silver escutcheon with a red diagonal from top left to bottom right is held by two lions. It is crowned with an open helmet, on which in turn rests a crown. Two swan
Fig. 4: Surrender of the fortress of Strasbourg in 1681, unknown artist 1684.
Fig. 3: Auction 418, Lot 4
City. 3 ducats, no date (1650).
wings emerge from the helmet. The inscription around it is the praise of the angelic choirs at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:14): Gloria in excelsis deo. It is a motif frequently found on coins from the early modern period. Probably the people of Strasbourg, so soon after the end of the war, also thought of the restored significance of this verse: et in terra pax hominibus.
The city’s peace was not to last long. In 1681, the city was forced to surrender to the French troops of Louis XIV (Fig. 4) and lost its freedom. At the end of the Palatinate War of Succession in 1697, it left the Holy Roman Empire under the Peace of Rijswijk and became French, re-Catholicised and linguistically Romanised.
Fig. 5: Maria Cristina as Diana, unknown Piedmontese painter.
Savoy
Although it was not directly involved in the Thirty Years’ War, the Duchy of Savoy also had to be wary of the expansionist ambitions of the French Prime Minister, Cardinal Richelieu. However, there were family ties preventing him from taking direct action. Duke Victor Amadeus I of Savoy (Duke from 1630-1637) had married a French princess, who was the daughter of Henry IV and sister of Louis XIII: Maria Cristina / Marie Christine (1606-1663). After her husband’s death in 1637, she initially acted as guardian to her eldest son, Francis Hyacinth, who died in 1638. She ruled over Savoy as regent for her successor, her son Carlo Emanuele / Charles Emmanuel II, until her death in 1663. Her regency was not without controversy. In 1637, her husband’s brothers, with the support of Spain, tried to overthrow Maria Cristina. She turned to her brother, the French King Louis XIII, and Cardinal Richelieu for help. With France’s help, the rebellion in Savoy was suppressed, but Maria Cristina was required to place Savoy under the protectorate of France in return. During the long period of her reign, the energetic woman (Fig. 5) managed to significantly improve the financial situation of Savoy, mainly by taxing church property, and to maintain the independence of the duchy. Her portrait and that of her son Carlo Emanuele can be seen on a rare and beautiful 4-scudi coin from 1642 (Fig. 6). The legend reads CARO(lus) EMANVEL, CHRIS(tina) FRAN(ciae) 1642 P(errinet [the mint master]). On the reverse of the gold coin is the coat of arms of the House of Savoy, surmounted by a crown (Fig. 7). The first quarter of the quartered coat of arms with the Savoyard central shield – a white cross on a red background – is itself quartered: The first quarter shows the golden Jerusalem cross on a silver background; next to it, in the second quarter, is the coat of arms of the Lusignan family, who ruled over Cyprus, a red lion on a background of four white and four blue bars; in the third field is the red lion on a gold background of the Armenian Hethumiden dynasty; next to that in the fourth field is the red lion of the Armenian Rupeniden dynasty. The Savoyards laid claim to the territories of the Crusader States of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia, which had long since been lost to the Ottomans. The second field of the shield is divided into three parts: The first shows the rearing white Westphalian horse on a red background, and next to it the Saxon rhombus above five horizontal black- and five horizontal golden bars. In the subsection, the three red Engern water lily leaves can be seen on a silver background. In the 15th century, the Savoy family had invented the myth that they were descended from a certain Bertold, who was said to have been a nephew of the Saxon Emperor Otto II. In this way, they tried to establish a precedence over the princely houses of Italy and to firmly anchor
Fig. 6: Auction 418, Lot 6 Savoy. Carlo Emanuele II, 1638-1675, under the regency of his mother Maria Cristina, 1639-1648.
4 Scudi 1642, Chambéry. Extremely rare.
Fine gold tint, extremely fine.
Estimate: 30,000 euros
Savoy in the Holy Roman Empire. The third field of the shield is divided in halves. The coat of arms of Chablais (from Caput lacus, the area south of Lake Geneva) is an upright black lion on a silver field covered with shingles, and from Aosta an upright silver lion on a black background. The fourth quarter, which is also divided in halves, contains the coats of arms of the County of Genevois / Geneva (nine fields in gold and azure) and the Duchy of Montferrato (one red and one white bar).
In the inscription, Maria Cristina and her son Carlo Emanuele are designated as (DVCE(s) * SAB(audiae) * PP(rincipes) * PEDE(montii) * RR(eges) CYPRY, as Dukes of Savoy, Princes of Piedmont and Kings of Cyprus.
Fig. 7: Coat of arms of the House of Savoy
News From the World Money Fair
The World Money Fair will take place at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin from 30 January to 1 February 2025. The fair has a new concept, moving away from a traditional coin show and from its focus on B2B transactions. Instead, the World Money Fair aims to attract the general public.
By Ursula Kampmann
Looking forward to a fantastic World Money Fair 2025: Ole Bjørn Fausa, Samlerhuset Group; Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel; Marc Schwartz, CEO of the Monnaie de Paris; Albert Beck, Founder of the World Money Fair an of the MünzenRevue with his wife; Michael Becker, 1st Chairman of the Berufsverband des Deutschen Münzenfachhandels e.V.; Ulrich Künker
We all think we know what a coin show should look like: we expect to see many dealers offering coins to passing collectors on tables large and small. At the World Money Fair, this type of coin trading was always of secondary importance. The big business was not done at the booths in public halls, but in conference rooms and suites. That is where the representatives of major mints met with their most important customers and suppliers to finalize their contracts. And when a mint buys blanks or new machines, we are often talking about six- or seven-figure sums. That is why Albert Beck, the long-time President of the World Money Fair, always insisted that he was not organizing a coin show but a coin fair.
New Management and a New Concept
In 2024, there was a change in the management of the World Money Fair, with Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel becoming the new Managing Director. He does not have a numismatic background, but gained his experience at the “boot Düsseldorf”. This event describes itself as the world’s largest watersports show, offering a great program not only for those who can afford a yacht, but also for all those who dream of sailing the high seas. Under Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel’s leadership, the show has evolved from a national event focused on boat buying to an event with theme worlds, special shows, hands-on activities and a stage program.
Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel plans to do something similar with the World Money Fair. It will no longer be aimed exclusively at long-standing collectors. Instead, the World Money Fair wants to become an inspiring event for families that brings numismatics right into the center of society. To achieve this, the Berlin fair is breaking new ground, and it certainly helps that neither Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel nor his team had any previous experience in the numismatic world. They are not stuck in our numismatic habits and views. As a result, they have a good sense for what will fascinate and inspire those people about numismatics who do not (yet) collect coins.
A Small Mint in Hall 2
The centerpiece of the 2025 World Money Fair is sure to become a favorite of the public. It is a station that allows visitors to experience the minting process of contemporary coins. Developed in collaboration with the supply industry, the Minting Experience Center covers more than 100 square meters and takes visitors through various stages of coin production both virtually and physically.
The Minting Experience Center is just the most spectacular of many measures designed to give visitors the opportunity to participate actively in the event. In this context, the World Money Fair relies on a young audience, for example, to take pictures for Instagram in front of cool backgrounds.
You may turn up your nose and wonder what this has to do with your idea of numismatics. Well, the World Money Fair wants to offer something that cannot be found anywhere else. It wants to try and see how more people can be interested in coins. Taking such a step is courageous and really necessary. After all, numismatics has been around for more than half a millennium, but if we want to exist for another 500 years, we have to adopt to modern habits. That’s why the new concept of the World Money Fair is an interesting approach that deserves our support.
Guest of Honor: Switzerland
In 2025, Swissmint will be the guest of honor at the World Money Fair. This is fitting, because Swissmint too has changed in recent years. Its media appearances are also aimed at a new, younger audience – with great success! By now, Swissmint has thousands of followers on its various social media channels.
This could also be due to the fact that the mint in Bern is paying close attention to the products that are particularly popular on the market right now. Rumor
A popular meeting place for all trade fair visitors: the Künker booth
has it that the 25-franc gold commemorative coin could be released in larger mintages and circulation quality from 2026. Swissmint is said to be considering a price close to the coin’s material value. As this new gold coin will be produced in the traditional Vreneli gold of .900, it will be an interesting alternative to Krugerrand and the likes.
Incidentally, Swissmint started in 2024 to auction off patterns for commemorative coins that are the result of minting engineers testing out various metals and technical specifications. As there are usually only one to three pieces in existence, these patterns have become sought-after investment objects. Several other national mints are currently considering whether to adopt this approach.
Swissmint has thus become a pioneer among state mints. As a result, its booth at the World Money Fair is likely to be very popular among visitors – just as it was last year. Thanks to its huge back panel, it is easy to find. And best of all: you can not only get Swiss commemorative coins there, but also Swiss chocolate.
Künker at the World Money Fair
As one of the shareholders, Künker supports this new direction of the World Money Fair, especially because the auction house itself focuses on numismatic tradition and quality. “Our offer,” says Ulrich Künker, “is aimed at experienced collectors who appreciate our numismatic information. For beginners, however, this might be a lot. That’s why I really appreciate what the World Money Fair has to offer. Last year, there were
13,500 visitors at the fair. If only one in a hundred of them gets excited about classical numismatics at some point, that would be a great result.”
As every year, there will be a flagship Künker sale in the context of the World Money Fair. In 2025, Künker presents a total of 705 lots with a total estimate of 10 million euros. And, of course, Künker will have a large booth welcoming collectors and investors from all over the world. For Künker will bring a large selection of historical gold coins at prices only slightly above their material value. Eike Müller comments: “Last year, our stock sold out within a very short time. But that’s no problem. If necessary, we will have new goods delivered from Osnabrück every day.”
The World Money Fair is a very stressful time for the entire Künker team, as Ulrich Künker describes: “I’m very excited for the World Money Fair. Those days are always very stressful because we not only have to organize our auction sale, but are also meeting many customers and business partners from all over the world. But the mood is very unique. So many languages, so many nationalities, so much enthusiasm – you won’t find that anywhere else in the world.”
Actually, there is nothing that needs to be added to this. The World Money Fair truly lives up to its name. It is the only coin fair whose exhibitors and visitors actually come from all over the world.
