Kuenker_Exklusiv_2024_09_30_Winter_ENG

NEWS FROM THE AUCTION AND GOLD MARKET

Dear Customers, Dear Coin Enthusiasts,

We have just concluded the first part of our autumn auctions with a record result: Auctions 410-414 brought some of the highest-grossing auction weeks in the company’s history. We are very pleased with your interest, and especially about the well-filled auction hall – finally we can meet many of you in person again, and our auctions will once more become a numismatic meeting place where like-minded people can exchange ideas and talk shop.

Now the second part of our autumn auctions is just around the corner, and from 28 to 31 October 2024 we will offer you sensational numismatic-, and this time also phaleristic highlights.

We want to draw particular attention to lot number 2166 of Auction 416, which contains the coin collection of Clementine of Orléans as part of the estate of Dr Alexander Eugen Herzog of Württemberg. It is a classic 19th-century coin collection in which the historical significance of the coins was valued more highly than their preservation. That is why there are many different qualities in this lot of 306 coins. You can read more about the impressive woman who was the original collector on pages 18-20 of this issue.

Coins from the ancient world will be auctioned in Auction 416 on 29 and 30 October 2024. Dr Eike Druckrey’s collection includes 305 Greek coins, which will be presented under the title “The Aesthetics and Conceptual World of the Early Greeks”. It is a tangible result of his shared enthusiasm with the ancient Greeks for all things beautiful. During the many years in which he built up his collection, Dr Druckrey tried to bring together the most fascinating Greek coins in the most

beautiful condition. More information about the collector and his collection can be found on pages 9-11.

Still more highlights from the ancient world will come under our virtual hammer on 31 October beginning at 2:00 pm as part of our eLive Premium Auction 417. Part 9 of the Dr W. R. collection will be auctioned off, containing coins from the time of the Roman civil war which followed the death of Nero to that of the Severan dynasty.

We are proud to be able to offer orders, decorations, coins and medals from the estates of ducal houses in Auction 415 on 28 October 2024. It contains 631 lots, which will come under the hammer of our auctioneers in cooperation with Philipp Württemberg Art Advisory GmbH. You can look forward to very special numismatic and phaleristic rarities that once belonged to persons who made history, including some from the estates of Dr Alexander Eugen Herzog of Württemberg and Carl Theodor of Bavaria. Our orders expert Michael Autengruber has described some of these interesting objects in more detail on pages 14 and 15.

As part of our series on numismatic museums around the world, on pages 16 and 17 we travel with Dr Ursula Kampmann to Zagreb, where she visited the Archaeological Museum -- and was very impressed by the rapid reconstruction of the museum after a devastating earthquake in 2020.

In our previous issue, you were able to follow the gradual discovery of ivory and elephants by the ancient Greeks in the first part of the article “Elefantenmünzen” by Prof. Johannes Nollé. Now we present the second part of the piece on pages 21-23.

We hope you enjoy perusing the latest issue!

Ulrich Künker Dr. Andreas Kaiser

Prof. Johannes Nollé.

Orders, Decorations and Medals from the Possession of the Wittelsbachs at our Auction 415

On 28 October 2024, Künker will hold its auction of orders and decorations, presenting objects of utmost historical value. The offer includes, for example, items from the estates of Alexander Eugen of Württemberg and Carl Theodor in Bavaria, the younger brother of Empress Sisi. You will not only find phaleristic rarities, but also outstanding medals and coins from their possessions.

Künker’s upcoming auction of orders and decorations, which will be held in collaboration with Philipp Württemberg Art Advisory GmbH on 28 October 2024, contains a total of 631 lots. The sale goes beyond the scope of orders and decorations to also include many medals and even coins from the estates of Dr. Alexander Eugen Duke of Württemberg and Carl Theodor in Bavaria. You can look forward to very special numismatic and phaleristic rarities from the possessions of people who made history!

The Estate of Carl Theodor,

Duke

in Bavaria (1839-1909)

There are historical figures whose life’s work still fills us with awe today. One of them is Carl Theodor Duke in Bavaria, son of Max in Bavaria, and younger brother of the Austrian Empress “Sisi”. He was a pioneer in Bavarian ophthalmology. After a life crisis, Carl Theodor decided to give up his military career to become a professional ophthalmologist. At that time, ophthalmology was making tremendous progress. With comparatively little effort, a good ophthalmologist could save a person’s sight, thus preventing them from becoming a helpless cripple. After all, a life of begging was the only option for destitute blind people in the 19th century.

Together with his second wife, Maria José of Braganza, who assisted him as a surgical nurse, Carl Theodor worked at the district hospital in Tegernsee, ran an outpatient clinic in Meran for a time, and founded an eye clinic in Munich at his own expense, which still exists today.

As head of the House of Wittelsbach in Bavaria (not to be confused with the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria), he witnessed many historical events himself and inherited the family memorabilia of his ancestors. His estate, which will be offered in Künker’s auction 415, is of the utmost importance to Bavarian history.

Coin collectors in particular will be thrilled to see these iconic coins with verified provenance from the Wittelsbach estate. Among them are the histroy taler “Blessing of Heaven” (Segen des Himmels) from the possession of Max Joseph Duke in Bavaria, and a 3-mark commemorative coin “Golden Wedding Anniversary” (Goldene Hochzeit) from the estate of Carl Theodor’s widow.

Lot 285: Bavaria. Award medal for medical achievements on the occasion of the 70 th birthday of Carl Theodor in Bavaria on 9 August 1909. 14-ducat gold medal by Alois Börsch. Only two specimens struck. From the estate of Maria José, Carl Theodor’s wife. About FDC.

Estimate: 5,000 euros

On the occasion of the 70th birthday of Duke Carl Theodor on 9 August 1909, his wife Maria José funded this award in gold and silver. In February 1910, one gold and two silver medals were struck. Later in the year, another gold and two silver medals were produced, as well as one silver specimen for the Bavarian State Collection in Munich.

Lot 325: Honorary Sabre of the 3rd Royal Bavarian Chevau-légers on the occasion of Carl Theodor in Bavaria’s golden jubilee of military service on 11 October 1903. Unique.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

Even after retiring from his active military career, Carl Theodor remained an officer in the cavalry reserve. This meant that, despite his resignation from active service, he took part in the combat operations during the FrancoPrussian War of 1870/1. The 3rd Royal Bavarian Chevau-légers, the regiment he commanded, presented him with the honorary sabre on the occasion of his golden jubilee of military service in 1903. Carl Theodor had joined the military at the age of 14 on 11 October 1853.

Lot 322: Personal purse of Elector Carl Theodor of Bavaria (1724-1799).

Lot 317: German Empire. 3 marks 1918 D commemorating the golden wedding anniversary of the Bavarian royal couple.

From the estate of Maria José, Carl Theodor’s wife. Very rare. Extremely fine to FDC.

Estimate: 20,000 euros

Due to the shortage of silver caused by the war, only 130 pieces of the “Golden Wedding Anniversary” commemorative coin were minted, and King Ludwig III of Bavaria distributed a large portion of them as gifts. This is probably how this piece came into Maria José’s possession. The coin is one of the most sought-after commemorative coins of the German Empire.

Lot 355: Order of the Golden Fleece from the estate of Carl Theodor in Bavaria. II-.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

Shortly before his 20th birthday, Carl Theodor in Bavaria was initiated into the Order of the Golden Fleece as the 968th knight by his brother-in-law, Emperor Franz Joseph.

Lot 361: Gift box containing two gold medals of 35 ducats each, on the occasion of the wedding of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Elisabeth in Bavaria on 24 April 1854. From the estate of Max Joseph Duke in Bavaria, father of the bride. Extremely rare. About FDC.

Estimate: 40,000 euros

In the 19th century, it was customary to present guests at important festivities with commemorative medals whose weight and material directly reflected their rank and degree of kinship. Künker is pleased to be able to offer two gift boxes from the estate of Duke Carl Theodor in Bavaria, each containing two medals that were distributed as gifts on the occasion of the wedding of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Elisabeth in Bavaria on 24 April 1854. The gift box with the two gold medals was presented to Duke Max in Bavaria, the father of the bride. The gift box with the two silver medals was given to the bride’s younger brother, Duke Carl Theodor.

The Estate of Dr. Alexander Eugen Duke of Württemberg (1933-2024)

Alexander Eugen Duke of Württemberg was the fourth child of Albrecht Eugen of Württemberg and his wife Nadejda, daughter of Ferdinand I Tsar of Bulgaria. Alexander Eugen was a trained archivist and had studied art history, archaeology and auxiliary sciences of history. He worked for the Christie’s auction house, at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection, at the Bavarian National Museum and in the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes. He died childless on 18 February 2024. His death marked the end of the male line of the third Silesian branch of the House of Württemberg.

Künker offers historically significant numismatic and phaleristic objects from his estate, as well as some rare books on phaleristics from his specialist library. The material comes from the German Empire and from Bulgaria, the homeland of his mother.

Lot 192: Württemberg. Royal Great Order of the Golden Eagle. Jewel of the order.

From the Alexander Eugen Duke of Württemberg Collection. Extremely rare. II.

Estimate: 5,000 euros

Los 184: Saxony. Order of Maria Anna. 1st class cross in original presentation case.

From the Alexander Eugen Duke of Württemberg Collection. Extremely rare. I.

Estimate: 5,000 euros

Lot 252: Vatican. Pius XI. Medal for the 300-year anniversary of the foundation of the Sacred Congregation “Propaganda Fide”, 1922. Very rare. Proof. Estimate: 5,000 euros

This was a personal gift from Pope Pius XI to Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, as is proven by a card. The Pope himself wrote on it in German: Mit herzlichstem Apostolischem Segen Pius PP. XI. (With the warmest apostolic blessing, Pius PP. XI. XI.) The somewhat damaged cardboard box reads A.S.M. Ferdinando Re dei Bulgari.

The sincerity of Pope Pius XI’s blessing is particularly noteworthy given that Prince Ferdinand had been excommunicated by Pope Leo XIII in 1896. The pope had punished Ferdinand for having his son and heir to the throne baptized Orthodox for political reasons. At an unknown later date, his excommunication was lifted by another pope.

Long Service Ribbon Buckles of the German States

The auction will also feature an impressive collection of long-service decorations in the form of ribbon buckles from the German States. Nothing comparable has been seen on the market for decades. The consignor acquired the collection decades ago from the “medal veteran” Jürgen Bielitz, decorations dealer and collector. Several pieces were added to the collection and its catalog is likely to become a new reference work.

Lot 4: Anhalt-Dessau. 1st class military service decoration for XX years of service as Non-commissioned officer (Unteroffizier) and in the enlisted ranks (Mannschaft). This specimen is depicted in Nimmergut, NDA 14. Very rare. I-II.

Estimate: 800 euros

Orders and Decorations from Various Estates

Impressive estates and special collections should not conceal the fact that Künker’s auction 415 also offers a wealth of rare orders and decorations from Germany and all over the world from various possessions. To give you an idea, we present a few rarities.

Lot 442: Palatinate. Order of the Palatine Lion. Cross of the knights of the order. Extremely rare. II.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

Estimate: 15,000 euros

Lot 443: Prussia. “Pour le Mérite” order. Order cross. Rare. I-II. Estimate: 10,000 euros

Lot 394: Hesse. Electoral Hessian Wilhelm Order (Wilhelms-Orden). 1st class Commander set. 2 specimens. Very rare. II. Estimate: 10,000 euros

512:

of

Brest star of the Grand

II. Estimate: 5,000 euros

Lot

France. Legion

Honor.

Aigle.

Lot 97: Saxe-Altenburg. Decoration for veterans with the years 1813/1815. Very rare. II. Estimate: 1,000 euros

Lot 478: Saxony. Royal Military Order of St. Henry (Saxony). Jewel of the grand cross, 4th model. Very rare. II.

Ancient Greek Coins from the Druckrey Collection at Künkerin our Auction 416

Our Auction 416 presents exquisite coins from the ancient world. Highlights are the Druckrey Collection of Greek coins, a Brutus aureus, as well as the collection of Clémentine d’Orléans, daughter of Citizen King Louis Philippe and mother of Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria.

On 29 and 30 October 2024, the Künker auction house will hold auction 416. It contains 1038 lots with select Greek, Celtic, Roman and Byzantine coins as well as issues from the Migration Period and the Islamic world. We present a few highlights.

The Dr Eike Druckrey Collection

“The Aesthetics and the World of Thought of the Early Greeks” – this is the title of and the idea behind Dr. Eike Druckrey’s collection of 305 exquisite Greek coins. He was not interested in accumulating as large a collection as possible, but rather in selecting the most beautiful works of art from the Greek Archaic and Classical periods that related to Hellenic ideas and concepts. This collection will open auction 416 on 29 October.

Lot 1044: Kamarina / Sicily. Didrachm, 415-405.

From Sotheby’s auction L09447 (1999), 10. Very fine +.

Estimate: 7,500 euros

Lot 1015: Poseidonia / Lucania. Stater, 530-500. From the Charles Gillet Collection, Bank Leu auction 77 (2000), 51. Very fine +.

Estimate: 7,500 euros

Lot 1222: Magnesia / Ionia. Themistocles, + 459 BC. Trihemiobol, 464-459.

Connoisseurs will be delighted to see all their favorites: Poseidonia, Kaulonia, Kamarina, Naxos, Syracuse, Abdera, Athens, Corinth... In short – anything that true lovers of Greek coinage dream of can be found in this collection. The beauty of these issues speaks for themselves. And they are a testament to Dr. Eike Druckrey’s keen eye for detail in selecting these pieces.

Further information on the collection and the collector can be found on pages 9-11 of this issue.

Invitation to reception

On the occasion of our spring auctions 415 to 416, we

you

a

by

“Beautiful horses on Greek coins from the collection of Dr Eike Druckrey” Tuesday, 29 October 2024, at 7 pm (after the end of the auction) in the auction room

Lot 1295: Ptolemy II, 285-246 / Egypt. AE obol, 264-263, unknown Sicilian mint.

From Roma Numismatics XVII (2019), No. 443. Very rare. Very fine +. Estimate: 1,500 euros

From Nomos auction 2 (2010), No. 150. Very rare. Extremely fine +. Estimate: 3,000 euros

A Celtic Rarity of the Highest Historical Importance

After the Druckrey Collection, ancient rarities from various possessions will be presented. You can look forward to a beautiful series of Celtic gold coins, including a hemistater of the Caletes, who gave their name to Pays de Caux in Normandy, and an impressive gold stater of the Eburones of the highest historical importance. After all, the motif of this coin is associated with an episode of the Gallic Wars. Modern historians believe this depiction to be a means of propaganda for a Celtic uprising against the Roman troops. In fact, the Eburones resisted Roman conquest. Led by their king Ambiorix, they attacked a Roman winter camp in mid-November 54 BC.

The 15 cohorts stationed there left in a hurry and were completely annihilated. Around 10,000 legionaries are said to have died, equating to about a fifth of the troops stationed in Gaul. Caesar took his revenge in 53 and 51 BC. He massacred all the Eburones he could find, burned their farms and drove off their cattle. There is archaeological evidence of this. After Caesar’s punitive campaign, the Eburones no longer existed.

Greek Coins from Various Possessions

Connoisseurs will also find numerous rarities in the section of Greek coins from various possessions, including an extremely rare 100-litrae piece from Syracuse, signed by Kimon, with a provenance dating back to 1917. Of exceptional beauty is a posthumous gold stater of the Philip II type, whose Apollo head reminds of the portrait of Alexander the Great. A wonderful drachm of Pherae is from the BCD Collection. Thanks to its immaculate condition, the elaborate depiction really comes into its own. And the same holds true regarding an archaic didrachm from Erythrae.

Lot 1503: Celts. Eburones. Stater, middle of the 1th century BC. Extremely rare. Possibly the finest specimen of this type. Extremely fine. Estimate: 12,500 euros

Lot 1561: Syracuse / Sicily. 100 litrae, 405-400. Obv. signed by Kimon. From the collection of a North German friend of ancient coins. From the R. Jameson Collection. Very rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 50,000 euros

Lot 1598: Philip II of Macedon. Gold stater, posthumous, 323-317, Colophon. Extremely fine +. Estimate: 25,000 euros

Lot 1623: Pherae / Thessaly. Drachm, 460-440. From Hess auction 253 (1983), No. 165 and the BCD Collection. Very rare. Extremely fine.

Estimate: 12,500 euros

Lot 1070: Syracuse / Sicily. 100 litrae, 405-400. Obv. signed by Euainetos. From the Virgil Brand Collection, purchased in 1915 from Jacob Hirsch. Extremely fine.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

cordially invite

to

lecture

Prof. Johannes Nollé.

Lot 1651: Erythrae / Ionia. Didrachm, before 480 BC. Rare. Extremely fine.

Estimate: 15,000 euros

Aurei of Brutus and Pompeius

Künker is pleased to be able to offer a Brutus aureus, which was purchased from Spink & Son in London on 12 September 1969. The coin dates from 42 BC and is one of the issues used to finance the military campaign of Caesar’s assassins. The gold came from contributions of communities in Asia Minor. This aureus was probably struck before the meeting of Brutus and Cassius in Smyrna in early 42 BC, when they discussed how to proceed. The very attractive specimen of about extremely fine quality is estimated at 100,000 euros.

75,000 euros is the estimate of an aureus struck shortly afterwards, showing the portrait of Sextus Pompeius on the obverse, and the heads of his father and brother on the reverse. The coin was minted in 37/6 BC to finance the construction of the fleet.

Lot 1809: M. Iunius Brutus. Aureus, 42 BC, mint in Asia Minor (Smyrna?).

Purchased on 12 September 1969 at Spink & Son, London. Very rare. About extremely fine.

Estimate: 100,000 euros

Roman and Byzantine Rarities

Of course, these two aurei are not the only Roman rarities in this auction sale. Künker’s auction 416 features everything a collector’s heart desires: rare aurei, fine bronze coins, denarii with excellent portraits, and some interesting provincial issues – there is truly something for everyone.

From

Estimate:

Lot 1822: Sextus Pompeius. Aureus, 37/6 BC, Sicilian mint. Very rare. Very fine.

Estimate: 75,000 euros

Lot 2077: Uranius Antoninus, 253-254. Tetradrachm, Emesa.

From Leu auction 10 (1974), No. 349. Very rare. About extremely fine / Extremely fine.

Estimate: 7,500 euros

Lot

Estimate: 50,000 euros

Lot 2078: Postumus, 260-268. Aureus, 258/60, Cologne. From Jacob Hirsch auction XIV

Estimate: 25,000 euros

2108: Crispus. Solidus, 319/20, Trier.

From Leo Biaggi de Blasys auction, No. 2058. Very rare. Traces of reworking at the edge. About extremely fine.

Lot 1970: Aelius. Aureus, 137.

MMAG auction 17 (1957), Lot 462. Rare. Extremely fine / About extremely fine.

40,000 euros

(1905), Lot 1407. Very rare. Extremely fine.

Lot 2193: Artavasdus, 742-744 with Nicephorus. Solidus. Extremely rare. Very fine.

Estimate: 20,000 euros

Lot 2036: Diadumenianus. Quinarius, 217-218. From Triton XX (2017), No. 805. Very fine +. Estimate: 25,000 euros

Lot 2106: Constantine I (306-337). Solidus, 313-315, Trier.

From Hess-Leu auction 49 (1971), No. 456. Extremely fine.

Estimate: 35,000 euros

Lot 2200: Alexander, 912-193. Solidus. Very rare. Very fine. Estimate: 20,000 euros

Lot 1704: Judaea. Shekel, year 3 (= 68/69), Jerusalem. From the Samel Collection, Künker auction 334 (2020), No. 2264. Extremely fine. Estimate: 10,000 euros

Lot 1706: Judaea. Tetradrachm, 133/4. From the Samel Collection, Künker auction 334 (2020), No. 2404. Extremely fine. Estimate: 10,000 euros

Lot 1834: Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra. Tetradrachm, ca. 36 BC, unknown mint. Very rare. Very fine +. Estimate: 40,000 euros

Roma Universa:

The Clémentine d’Orléans Collection

The coin collection of Clémentine d’Orléans was entrusted to Künker for auction as part of the estate of Dr. Alexander Eugen Duke of Württemberg, the rest of which will be sold in auction 415. This is a typical collection of the 19th century, with its collector attaching more importance to the historical significance of a coin than to its condition. As a result, this multiple lot of 306 coins contains pieces of many different qualities.

Clémentine d’Orléans was the daughter of Citizen King Louis Philippe and received an excellent education. Clémentine owed her love of history to her father, who personally taught this subject to her and her siblings. Clémentine also inherited her unique business acumen from her father, with which she managed the inheritance of her husband, Duke August Ludwig Viktor of Saxe-Coburg-Koháry. It was a vast estate of more than 150,000 hectares in Lower Austria, Hungary and present-day Slovakia. As a wealthy member of the high nobility, Clémentine systematically pursued the goal of elevating her sons’ ranks: She secured the position of Tsar of Bulgaria for Ferdinand I in return for considerable investment in Bulgarian infrastructure.

Part 9 of the

Dr

Clémentine traveled all her life. When she became too old to do so, she began to collect coins. A preliminary comparison of the handwriting on the coin slips and letters written in her own hand suggests that Clémentine identified her coins herself. She was particularly interested in Byzantine coinage, and owned the reference work of the time, Sabatier’s catalog.

Clémentine’s coin collection is a numismatic ensemble whose significance goes far beyond the coins themselves. It is a great stroke of luck that this collection has survived intact. Künker has therefore decided to keep it this way and offer it as an ensemble.

Further information on the collection can be found on pages 18-20 of this issue.

W. R. Collection in our eLive Premium auction 417

Our Auction 417, taking place on 31 October 2024 as an eLive Premium Auction, is dedicated to the general collection Roma Universa. It is part 9 of the Dr. W.R. Collection and covers the period from the era following Nero’s death up to the end of the Severan dynasty.

Part 9 of the Dr. W.R. Collection will be offered by Künker as eLive Premium Auction 417 on 31 October 2024. The 682 lots cover the period from the time after Nero’s death to the end of the Severan dynasty. As always, the Dr. W.R. Collection unites all fields of Roman numismatics. The collector was interested in gold, silver and bronze coins, in issues from the mint in Rome but also in local coins produced in the various municipal centers of the provinces. In doing so, Dr. W.R. always paid utmost attention to the quality of his pieces. But their historical background was also an important factor. Therefore, this collection contains numerous coins with interesting reverse depictions. The estimates of the individual lots range from the low 2-digit to the mid 4-digit segment.

We present a little selection of particularly interesting pieces.

Los 3011: Otho, 69. Antiochia / Syria. Tetradrachm, year 1 (= 69). Very rare. Very fine +. Estimate: 2,000 euros

Los 3015: Vitellius, 69. Sestertius. Rare. Very fine. Estimate: 5,000 euros

Los 3037: Diva Domitilla. Denarius, 82/3. Very rare. Very fine +.

Estimate: 1,500 euros

Los 3051: Bone token, 80. Probably unique. Very fine. Estimate: 500 euros

Los 3052: Julia Titi.

Denarius, 80/1. Rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 600 euros

Los 3061: Domitian, 81-96. Aureus, 81. Very rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 5,000 euros

Los 3180: Hadrian. Denarius, 130-133. Extremely fine +.

Estimate: 400 euros

Los 3083: Domitian, 81-96. Caesarea Maritima / Judaea. As, 92. Rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 750 euros

Los 3293: Marcus Aurelius, 161-180. Ephesus / Ionia. As, 161-165. Very rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 1,000 euros

Los 3103: Nerva, 96-98. Aureus, 97. Rare. About extremely fine. Estimate: 6,000 euros

Los 3324: Faustina II. Aureus. Rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 6,000 euros

Los 3161: Plotina. Denarius, 112-114. Very fine.

Estimate: 1,000 euros

Los 3349: Lucius Verus, 161-169. Aureus, 161/2. Extremely fine +.

Estimate: 7,500 euros

2,000

The academic Crantor of Soloi (c. 335-275 BC) is mainly known for his commentary on Plato’s Timaeus. In this commentary, he makes it clear, among other things, that Plato considers the cosmos to be eternal and not created at a certain time. This view shared by the academics had been attacked by certain sophists since late antiquity. Proklos Diadochos defended Plato’s view, and by extension Crator’s, in De Aeternitate Mundi with 18 arguments.

In our eLive Auction 84 from 4-8 November 2024:

The Borstel Treasure trove

“A coin trove has been found in Borstel”, said the finder, commenting on the events in June 1992 in the district of Diepholz. While using a rotary tiller to plant crops on a plot of land behind his home, he and a colleague had come across some coins and potsherds. The origin of the coins was determined by subsequent searches and digging on a 50-metre-long piece of arable land: a clay pot buried in the ground, with numerous silver coins of various sizes and some gold coins.

The hoard, which has become known as the Borstel Treasure, contains a total of 937 coins, including 16 gold guilders (14 Rhenish guilders and 2 guilders from the Bishopric of Utrecht), 92 groschen coins ( mainly grotens of the Oldenburg counts,

in particular Gerhard the Quarrelsome, but also of the counts Nicholas and Dietrich the Fortunate), as well as 818 silver schwars (mainly Bremen coinages of the second type with key shield). The hoard also contains coins from the counties of Diepholz and Hoya, the city of Stade and the Bishopric of Verden, as well as some hollow pennies. The hoard was handed over to the Landesmuseum Hannover and then to a Hamburg coin expert for cleaning, processing, and scholarly evaluation.

The hoard consists mostly of coins that cannot be dated with any certainty, as none of them bears an inscription with a date. The date of the hoard’s concealment, however, can be determined from the few datable pieces – four white pfennigs of Johann von Hoya as the administrator of the cathedral chapter in Münster – and was thereby set in the period between 1460 and 1470. A temporal connection with the Battle of Borstel Heath in 1462 is possible, but cannot be proven. However, the types of coins can be seen as typical for the Bremen area at that time, especially the frequent occurrence of Bremen “Schwaren” and Oldenburg “Groten”. It is reasonable to assume that these were the hidden savings of a farmer from the Borstel region.

The complete Borstel Treasure trove will be auctioned in our next eLive Auction 84 from 4 - 8 November 2024 in around 100 lots.

Los 3555: Diva Julia Domna. Denarius, 218, minted under Elagabal. Very rare. Very fine +.

Estimate: 750 euros

Los 3606: Caracalla, 198-217. Soli-Pompeiopolis / Cilicia. As. Very rare. Very fine.

Estimate:

euros

Los 3648: Plautilla. Akrasos / Lydia. As. Probably unique. Very fine +.

Estimate: 1,000 euros

Los 3450: Manlia Scantilla. Denarius, 193. Very rare. Very fine. Estimate: 1,250 euros

Los 3499: Septimius Severus, 193-211. Attuda / Caria. As. Probably unique. Extremely fine. Estimate: 3,000 euros

Los 3553: Julia Domna. Emesa / Syria. Tetradrachm, 215. Very rare. Extremely fine +.

Estimate: 1,000 euros

The newly discovered coin treasure with parts of the clay pot in which it was buried.

Archdiocese of Cologne, Dietrich II of Moers, 1414 - 1463. Gold guilder, no date (1432), Bonn. Very fine. Estimate: 350 euros.

County of Oldenburg, Nicholas, 1401 - 1447. Groten, no date. Extremely rare. Very fine to extremely fine.

Estimate: 600 euros.

County of Hoya, Erich, 1377-1427.

Bracteate, Hoya. Very rare. Almost extremely fine. Estimate: 500 euros.

The Beauty on Coins, and the Beauty of Coins –

The Dr. Eike Druckrey Collection

Even the Greek language itself reveals the importance of beauty in the life of the Greeks. It has an extensive repertoire of words that denote beauty or individual aspects of it: kállos/kallónē (beauty), kósmos (adornment), lamprótēs (splendor), harmonía (harmony, evenness), euandría (beauty of men, of masculinity), euteknía (beauty of well-behaved children), eunomía (beauty of the state due to good constitution), euámpelos (beauty of vines), euántheia (beauty of flowers), euboos (beauty of cattle), eúhippos (beauty of horses), eúhydros (beauty of abundant water), eúkarpos (beauty of fruits) and so on. The utmost goal was kalós kagathós, a state of beauty and goodness.

Few peoples were as enamored of beauty as the Greeks – no matter what endeavor they undertook, their quest for beauty always played a central role. As a result, it is impossible to fully grasp the essence of this people without understanding, empathizing with, and ultimately sharing the Greek’s enthusiasm for beauty. Coin collector Dr. Eike Druckrey (fig. 1), who spent decades of his life trying to understand the quintessence of the Greek people and the aesthetics associated with it, has mastered this particularly challenging task. The Dr. Druckrey Collection is a tangible result of his enthusiasm for beauty, which he shared with the Greeks. Over the many years of building up his collection, he tried to bring together the most beautiful Greek coins in beautiful, if not the most beautiful, condition. In this way, his collection is a numismatic realization of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s saying: “Among all peoples, the Greeks have dreamt life’s dream most beautifully” (Goethe, Maxims and Reflections, published in German by M. Becker, Weimar 1907, 56 No. 298). By making the pieces he assembled with great effort and passion available to other collectors in auction 416, he enables them to add the splendor and beauty of the most exquisite Greek coins to their collections.

When it came to reaching this goal, the Greeks, on the one hand, had an eye for natural beauty, i.e., the beauty of their surroundings – such as the beauty of a landscape (especially mountains, rivers, springs but also the climate), of a person, an animal or a plant – and on the other hand, they strove to create beauty themselves. And especially their most important creation, the city, was meant to be beautiful. Since the late 8th century BC, Greek cities were designed and laid out according to a grid pattern with right-angled streets. The aim of Greek urban planning was that both the external, i.e. the structural appearance of a city, and the urban constitution as well as the culture of the people who lived in it to be beautiful. In the ideal city, citizens should exude beauty both through their education and their appearance.

It is therefore no surprise that the coins of the cities of Classical Greece were meant to use beautiful motifs to illustrate the advantages and especially the beauty of the city that commissioned them. In her dissertation “The Power of Beauty” (Die Macht der Schönheit, Bonn, Habelt publishing house, 2003), my Ph.D. student Dr. Isabelle Maupai analyzed and presented the pursuit of beauty in Greek cities during the imperial period. Most of the criteria for beauty of this period had been around for a long time, are thus traditional and therefore also apply to the periods from which the pieces in Dr. Druckrey’s collection originate, i.e., the Archaic, Classical and Early Hellenistic periods. It is impossible to deal with the various areas and aspects of the Greek quest for beauty within the limited space of this article. Therefore, it will focus on how cities presented themselves by depicting beautiful women.

The Greek word for city, pólis, is feminine, which is how the idea came up to represent a city through the image of a woman. It was clear to the Greeks that the representative of their city had to be beautiful. These beautiful women could be the city’s patron goddess, a spring nymph that provided water for the city, its founder, or its personification (the city’s tyche).

The Druckrey Collection contains a coin presenting a city’s tyche on a tetradrachm of the Phoenician city of Arados (No. 1282). She wears a mural crown, making her easily recognizable as the personification of the city of Arados. Such city goddesses were called tyche (“goddess of fate”) as they were supposed to embody the desired good fortune and prosperity of a city throughout the centuries. The tyche of Arados is well-coiffed. Small curls frame her graceful face, she wears earrings and a veil at the back of her head that falls over her shoulders. Throughout the Greek East, women wore many different types of veils. These veils were meant to reflect a woman’s good manners, her elegant modesty and respectability. The city goddess was considered a virgin, and she was to remain a virgin forever: no one was allowed to deflower her, i.e., to break the mural crown on her head. This idea of a virgin city persisted into the early modern period: When Tilly, the commander of the Catholic League, captured Protestant Magdeburg in 1631, this was ironically referred to as the “Magdeburg wedding”. With the breach of its walls, the city of Magdeburg (the name means “maiden city”) lost its virginity, it was raped. The “Magdeburg wedding” was more than just an image. Soldiers who were completely brutalized during the long and cruel Thirty Years’ War did terrible things to girls and women in Magdeburg. Similar incidents occurred in ancient times when cities were conquered, so it is understandable why the walls of a city should not be breached and why the “virginity” of a city’s deity was so important.

The goddess Athena often appears in the same role as a city’s tyche and acts as a patron goddess: a beautiful female head with a beautiful helmet can be seen on the obverse of many coins. There were two reasons why Athena was a visually decorative and highly symbolic motif on a coin’s obverse: For one, the Greeks imagined Athena to be a beautiful yet strong, even warlike goddess – she embodied an athletic type of a woman that also applied to the well-trained Spartan women

Fig. 1: The collector Dr. Eike Druckrey.

Didrachm of Hyele/Elea/Velia in Lucania, 340/334 BC: head of Athena with Attic helmet (Lot 1020; estimate: 200 euros).

Stater of an unknown Sicilian mint, c. 345/300 BC: head of Athena with Corinthian helmet (Lot 1032; estimate: 500 euros).

Tetradrachm of Arados in Phoenicia, 92/91 BC: city goddess with mural crown (No. 1282; estimate: 200 euros).

Drachm of Pharsalos in Thessaly, 424-404 BC: head of Athena with Attic helmet (Lot 1164; estimate: 500 euros).

Stater of Soloi in Cilicia, c. 385/350 BC: Athena with Attic helmet (Lot 1267; estimate: 1,250 euros).

Stater of Side in Pamphylia, c. 460/430 BC: Athena with Corinthian helmet (Lot 1263; estimate: 1,000 euros).

Drachm of the Brettian League, c. 215/205 BC: Hera Lakinia with veil (Lot 1021; estimate: 600 euros)

Drachm of Knidos, 449/411 BC: head of Aphrodite (Lot 1242; estimate: 500 euros).

Decadrachm of Syracuse, 400/379 BC: reed woven into the hair (Lot 1073; estimate: 10,000 euros).

Tetradrachm of Syracuse, after 480 BC: wreath hairstyle with hanging plait (Lot 1061; estimate: 400 euros).

Tetradrachm of Syracuse, after 480 BC: wreath hairstyle with folded over hanging plait (Lot 1062; estimate: 750 euros).

Tetradrachm of Syracuse, 450/440 BC: wreath hairstyle with intertwined neck braid (Lot 1065; estimate: 600 euros).

Tetradrachm of Syracuse, 420/415 BC: wreath hairstyle with ribbons and sakkos (Lot 1066; estimate: 1,250 euros).

Tetradrachm of Syracuse, 415/405 BC: wreath hairstyle with central rosette and tuft at the back of the head (Lot 1067; estimate: 2,000 euros).

Tetradrachm of Syracuse, 415/405 BC: wreath hairstyle with wide head band and curls taken out (Lot 1069; estimate: 5,000 euros).

Tetradrachm of Syracuse, 415/405 BC: wreath hairstyle with lampadion (Lot 1068; estimate: 2,500 euros).

who were considered by the Greeks to be beautiful and desirable representatives of the female sex. On the other hand, Athena was thought to be a virgin, just like the personified goddess of a city. Athena was therefore worshipped in many cities as the protector of a city and was invoked as “Poliás” (city goddess). However, other functions were also often attributed to her: Athena was also the patron goddess of olive trees, which were very important to the Greeks, of craftsmen and of new inventions. In the latter role, she was considered the goddess of science and thus of wisdom. To this day, Athena’s head is part of the emblem of many academic institutions (fig. 2).

A beautiful Sicilian stater without legend, reminiscent of the coins of Corinth, features the head of Athena with Corinthian helmet (No. 1032): Athena pushed the helmet back to reveal her face. The helmet has a neck guard, from which the goddess’s curls flow. On a didrachm from Hyele/Elea/Velia (No. 1020), Athena wears an Attic spherical helmet with panache and ornaments in the form of wings. Her face shows that she is determined to fight. A particularly graceful head of Athena can be found on a drachm from Thessalian Pharsalos (No. 1164). On this coin, the goddess also wears an Attic helmet with elaborately draped panache. The cheek flaps of the helmet are folded up, revealing the girlish beauty of her face on this coin in the Druckrey Collection. In contrast, Athena appears rather fierce, more warlike than beautiful, on a late classical stater (3rd quarter of the 5th century BC) from the Pamphylian city of Side (No. 1263). Although this city, which was then on the edge of the Greek world and whose people spoke a language of Asia Minor, made efforts to adopt Greek forms of art, it did not achieve the same level of beauty. Athena wears a Corinthian helmet without neck guard and with panache, which she pushed back. Another beautiful head of Athena can be seen on a very rare stater from the city of Soloi (No. 1267). The city, which was located even further east than Side in Cilicia, appears to have had an excellent engraver. He created a beautiful head of Athena with Attic helmet. In this case, the specific shape of the helmet may have been intentional. After all, it was said in Soloi that the city had been founded by the Athenian constitutional reformer Solon, due to the similarity in name. However, the citizens of Soloi had nothing to do with Athens’ cultural heyday, as they were known to speak poor Greek, so much so that certain linguistic errors are still referred to as Soloikisms today. On the coin from Soloi, Athena’s helmet is adorned with a leaping griffin. Griffins were mythological creatures whose back bodies were that of a lion, while they had a bird-like torso.

But the athletic, girlish type of Athena was not the only type in line with the Greek ideal of a woman. Women of a more mature age,

such as Hera, the wife of Zeus, were also popular. They could be considered beautiful and were depicted on coins. A stater of the southern Italian Brettian League depicts Hera Lakinia, who had an important sanctuary not far from the city of Kroton, as a beautiful and dignified middle-aged woman (No. 1021). Hera

wears a diadem and much jewelry. Earrings and necklaces are status symbols, as Hera is the wife of the highest god of the Greeks. This is also indicated by the scepter draped over her left shoulder. A loyal and exemplary wife and protector of the family, she wears a head veil. However, she was not particularly successful in this role with her notoriously unfaithful husband – no female beauty was safe from him. In a way, it was only logical that the supreme Greek god was depicted as a lover of beauty and the female beauty associated with it. Behind Hera, we can see a grasshopper with short tentacles: apparently, it is one of the dreaded migratory locusts that came in swarms from Africa and threatened to devour the abundant grain fields of southern Italy (for the depiction of the locust see S.M. Hurter, Crickets/Grasshoppers/ Locusts. A new view on some insect symbols on coins of Magna Graecia and Sicily, Nomismatika Chronika 23, 2004, 11-20). Hera Lakinia was apparently invoked to protect the grain harvest from the invasion of these dreaded insects.

The third goddess to enter the beauty contest on Mount Ida, not far from Troy, alongside athletic and beautiful Athena and Hera, the beautiful well-married woman in her prime, was Aphrodite. Her domain was all that had to do with female beauty. She was often stylized as the embodiment of aggressive beauty, a seductive force that could cause men to lose their minds, often leading to nasty arguments and even wars. In the Dr. Druckrey Collection, Aphrodite appears on a beautiful drachm, minted by the city of Knidos in the 2nd half of the 5th century BC (No. 1242). Knidos was one of the most important cult sites of Aphrodite in the Greek world. For Knidos, the Greek sculptor Praxiteles (c. 390-320 BC) created one of the most famous and seductive Aphrodite statues of the ancient world, Aphrodite of Knidos. It was one of the bestknown statues of the ancient world, and so far 200 imitations of this work have been found (fig. 3). On the coin from Knidos, which was struck several decades before Praxiteles created his marble statue, Aphrodite is depicted with a fierce expression while still maintaining her elaborate hairstyle. Her hair

Fig. 5: Fountain of Arethusa, JN.

Fig. 3: Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos, Rome, Altemps Collection, JN.

Fig. 2: The head of Athena is still used in the signets of many academic institutions.

Fig. 4: Syracuse, peninsula of Ortygia from a bird’s eye view, Wikipedia, Agostino Artnoir Sella.

stretches over her head like a string of pearls, and a diadem-like ribbon is draped over the front of her head. At the nape of her neck, Aphrodite’s hair ends in a long hanging two-part braid that consists of an upper oval and a lower spherical section. Half of the upper oval section is covered by a piece of cloth, while the lower spherical section is completely wrapped in such a fabric.

The importance of her hairstyle for a woman’s beauty becomes particularly apparent on coins from Syracuse. They depict a woman’s head surrounded by four dolphins. In some cases, reeds is woven into the woman’s hair (No. 1073). All this indicates that the depicted woman is the nymph Arethusa. Water deities were frequently depicted on coins from Sicilian cities – river gods and beautiful nymphs. Given the hot summers, water was a precious commodity in Sicily. People, especially those living in larger cities, depended on fresh water springs. There is a good reason why the poet Pindar began his victory hymn to the Syracuse tyrant Hieron, whose racehorse won at Olympia in 476 BC, with the exclamation: “Water is best!” (Pindar, Olympian Odes 1.1). In ancient times, people believed that springs and trees were kept alive by beautiful young women who were considered daughters of Mother Earth and the sea god Oceanus. These women were referred to as nymphs. Time and again, virile vegetation gods – such as Pan and the satyrs – and river gods pursued these attractive young women. Many of them tried to escape the savages and preserve their virginity; after all, water was supposed to be pure. Therefore, the mistress of the water had to remain untouched. It was the goddess Artemis, who was averse to sexuality, who helped the nymphs fend off their intrusive admirers.

Arethusa is a common name for springs. It means something like “wetter”. According to myth, Arethusa was a nymph who once had her spring in the Greek mountains of Arcadia. Because of her beauty, the river god Alpheios, who flowed past Olympia, was attracted to her and pursued her. The goddess Artemis made sure that the beautiful Arcadian girl could escape. Arethusa is said to have disappeared under the Ionian Sea and resurfaced on the island of Ortygia (“Quail Island”), the settlement center of Syracuse (fig. 4 and 5). It is nothing short of a miracle that a freshwater spring emerged so close to the sea. This is another reason why Arethusa and her spring enjoyed so much popularity. The coins featuring Arethusa in the Druckrey Collection – most of which are of exquisite quality – show the nymph with so many beautiful hairstyles that the coins could still provide much inspiration for today’s hairstylists. The rapid evolution of Arethusa’s hairstyles also shows how women hairstyles were subject to ever-changing fashions even in ancient times. The basis was usually a wreath hairstyle (see M. Gkikaki, Die weiblichen Frisuren auf den Münzen und in der Großplastik zur Zeit der Klassik und des Hellenismus. Typen und Ikonologie, Diss. Univ. Würzburg, Würzburg 2011). The long hair, which stretched across the head in many segments, is depicted by fine incised lines, creating a cap of hair. This hair is parted in the middle and rolled over at the forehead. At the temples, the roll of hair falls down in front of the ears. At the nape of the neck, the fine hair of beautiful Arethusa ends in a hanging plait (No. 1061). On an exquisite tetradrachm (No. 1062), the hanging braid was wrapped around and ends at the back of the head in a tied bundle of hair. On another tetradrachm, the roll at the forehead is wavy rather than straight, while the braid in the neck is elaborately intertwined (No. 1065). Arethusa’s hairstyle on another coin is particularly distinctive (No. 1066): There are many ribbons woven into her hair, and they also cover the major part of the hanging braid. This is called a “sakkos”, or “sphendone” hairstyle, because the hair is covered in a “cap”

or a “headband”. Over time, Arethusa’s hairstyle had to adapt to new developments. The hanging braid became old-fashioned, and the hairstyle took on a two- or three-part form. On a tetradrachm (No. 1067), the forehead area is first framed by a wreath of curls; from the center of the head, the curls fall down in a rosette-like fashion, but are still close to the head; the back of the head is covered by a big tuft of hair. This tuft cannot be seen on another tetradrachm (No. 1068); only two individual curls fall down the neck from the two rolls of curls that are separated by a hair band. Above the middle of the head, curls are depicted like small flames, which is why the hairstyle was referred to as “lampadion” hairstyle. Lampadion means small torch; and our word for “lamp” derived from this root. On a beautiful tetradrachm with the name of Euainetos, Arethusa wears a wide, decorated hairband that wraps around her entire head, covering large parts of her hair. The central part of the head is segmented into thin strands like rosettes. Individual curls were taken out of the hairband to loosen up the hairstyle (No. 1069).

The numerous Syracusan pieces from the Dr. Druckrey Collection thus demonstrate the extent to which ancient beauty ideals focused on hairstyles.

Coins from other Greek cities also feature the heads of nymphs. A coin from Ternia (No. 1031), shows the nymph who gave the city its name. Like Arethusa, she has a wreath hairstyle and is adorned with beautiful earrings and a necklace. The other side of the coin features one of the most graceful depictions of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. A winged young girl is seated on an altar, gazing at a bird that has just landed on her elegantly outstretched right hand. The goddess of victory wears a thin robe that accentuates her beautiful figure. The nymph Kamarina is depicted with similar grace on another didrachm (No. 1044). She was considered the ruler of the lake near the city of Kamarina, which is now dry, but was a gathering place for waterfowl of all kinds in ancient times. The Greeks appreciated the beauty of such bird paradises. In a famous passage in his Iliad (II 459-466), Homer described the flocks of birds in the Asian meadow on the Kaÿstros River, which flows into the sea near Ephesus. In Larissa in Thessaly (No. 1161) and Sinope in Asia Minor (No. 1194), the nymphs who gave these cities their names also adorn their coins. The nymph Larissa is depicted from the front, looking at the observer of the coin.

Along the north and west coasts of Asia Minor, there were cities that believed to have been founded by Amazons. These militant women, who according to myth had taken over the role of men, were also good coin motifs, as they embodied the city’s ability to defend itself and also made for a beautiful picture. In the Dr. Druckrey Collection, there is a tetradrachm depicting the Amazon Kyme (No. 1210).

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The experiences cities had gained in depicting female city goddesses benefited the Hellenistic kings who wanted to immortalize their wives on coins. The beautiful and dignified portrait of Philistis, wife of Hieron II of Syracuse, depicts the queen with a veil in the style of the deity Demeter (No. 1091).

Dr. Eike Druckrey’s magnificent collection shows that it was primarily the head of a woman, rather than a full-body depiction, that expressed the beauty of female figures on coins that epitomized a city’s identity. Coins were too small of an object to convey to the people of antiquity what statues or the almost completely lost paintings of these times could express. The Greek cities and their artists were quick to recognize what depictions and what designs could be used to effectively highlight the beauty of their city goddesses on coins.

Prof. Dr. Johannes Nollé

Drachm of Larissa in Thessaly, c. 370/360 BC: The nymph Larissa (Lot 1161; estimate: 1,000 euros).

Drachm of Sinope in Pontos, c. 330/300 BC: The nymph Sinope (Lot 1194; estimate: 250 euros).

16-litrae coin by Hieron II, c. 240-216 BC: head of Philistis with veil (Lot 1091; estimate: 1,000 euros).

Stater of Terina, 400/356 BC: The nymph Ternia // Nike (Lot 1031; estimate: 4,000 euros).

Didrachm of Kamarina, 415/405 BC: The nymph Kamarina on a swan (Lot 1044; estimate: 7,500 euros).

Tetradrachm of Kyme in Aiolils: the Amazon Kyme (Lot 1210; estimate: 750 euros).

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When Bavaria and Russia clashed …

Shortly after Carl Theodor, Count Palatine and Elector (1724–1799, reigned as Elector Carl IV of the Palatinate beginning in 1742 and as Carl II of the electorate of Bavaria) also took over the government in Bavaria, he tackled the project of re-establishing the English administrative “tongue” of the Order of Malta as the “English-Bavarian tongue” – this had previously been lost during the Reformation. In 1782, Grand Master Emanuel de Rohan Polduc (1725 –1797, reigned beginning 1775) established the Order’s Grand Priory of Bavaria. He endowed it with the properties of the Jesuit order, which had been dissolved by Pope Clement XIV (Lorenzo Ganganelli – 1705–1774, Pope beginning 1769) in 1773 under pressure from the Kings of France, Spain and Portugal. Carl Theodor appointed his illegitimate son Karl August von und zu Bretzenheim (1768–1823), who had become a Count in 1774 and a Prince in 1789, as Grand Prior from 1782 to 1799.

The Russian Tsar Pawel I (1754–1801, reigned 1796–1801) –Protector of the Order of Malta beginning 1797 and as of 1798, after the expulsion of the Order of Malta by the French General Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821, reigned from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 as Emperor of the French) de facto Grand Master of the Order of Malta -- established a Catholic Grand Priory of the Order in the Russian Empire in 1797 as a result of the third partition of Poland in 1793. He attached it to the “English-Bavarian tongue” administrative division, which thus became the English-Bavarian-Russian “tongue” of the order. In the following year 1798, Pawel also founded an Orthodox Grand Priory of St. John of Jerusalem [Орден Святого Иоанна

in the Russian Empire, which he provided with 98 commanderies.

After the death of Carl Theodor on 16 February 1799, Maximilian IV Joseph of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (1756–1806, reigned as Elector Maximilian IV Joseph beginning 1799 and as King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria beginning 1806) took over the government in Palatinate-Bavaria. On the day he took office, or two days later according to some sources, he dissolved the Grand Priory of Bavaria of the Order of Malta -- which was unpopular with the people anyway – by means of long-prepared measures and with immediate effect. He dismissed the Grand Prior Karl August, Prince of Bretzenheim, whom he hated (“the bastard son of his predecessor”) and had all the order’s estates confiscated in favour of the Royal Court

Chamber.

These actions resulted in extremely harsh countermeasures by the choleric Grand Master of the Order – the Russian Tsar Pawel I Petrovich – who interpreted this as a clear act of partisanship by Bavaria in favour of the French Republic and against the strategic interests of the Russian Empire. He saw his own interests as Grand Master of the Order and as Tsar (Emperor) of the Russian Empire as being clearly threatened by the ill-advised action of Bavaria. After receiving news of the move, Pawel I, in one of his infamous and universally-feared rages, ordered that the Bavarian ambassador to the court of St. Petersburg, Franz Xaver Freiherr von Reichlin-Meldegg, be taken into custody and forced to leave the Russian Empire immediately. The latter was taken by police (not even by the military!) in an extremely humiliating manner on a cart directly to the border of the Russian Empire, on the direct orders of the Tsar. The Tsar further ordered that the Russian army –which was on its way to France – was to immediately invade the Electorate of Bavaria. Neither Maximilian IV Joseph, nor his foreign minister Maximilian von Montgelas (1759-1838, in office from 1799 to 1817), nor the government of the Electorate of Bavaria had foreseen these reactions; they were therefore completely taken by surprise by the measures.

The matter was not to be allowed to escalate any further. It was decided to send a diplomatic mission to St. Petersburg to appease the angered Tsar Pawel and to negotiate with him: the elector’s brother-in-law, Wilhelm, Count Palatinate and Duke of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld zu Gelnhausen (1752–1837), together with the Bailli Frà Johann Baptist Anton Freiherr von Flachslanden (1739–1822), Governor and administrator for the Grand Prior of Bavaria, and François Gabriel Chevalier de Bray (1765–1832), a skilled diplomat and “High Secret Adviser” in the Bavarian foreign ministry.

Elector Maximilian IV Joseph was forced to offer Tsar Pawel the withdrawal of all measures taken against the Order of Malta in Bavaria, to re-establish the Grand Priory of Bavaria, and to recognise the Russian Tsar as the legitimate Grand Master of the order. At the end of August, the legation reached St. Petersburg, and after brief but successful negotiations, an agreement was reached that essentially fulfilled all of Tsar Pawel’s demands. Only the dismissal of the previous Grand Prior Karl August Prince of Bretzenheim remained in force.

In his place, the Elector’s second son, Karl Theodor Prince of Bavaria (1795-1875), who was only four years old at the time, was appointed Grand Prior, and the Bailiff of Flachslanden as his Governor and thus the de facto regent of the Order of Malta in Bavaria. The Russian invasion was prevented, and with it the war against Bavaria, in which Bavaria would certainly have been defeated.

In gratitude for the favourable outcome of the affair, on 28 August 1799 Tsar Pawel I accepted Wilhelm of PalatinateBirkenfeld at Gelnhausen, Duke in Bavaria, as the 325th Knight of the Imperial Order of St. Apostle Andrew the FirstCalled [Имперáторский

and presented him with the order’s insignia in diamonds. At the same time, Wilhelm was admitted as a Commander to the Russian Grand Priory of the Order of Malta. The Bailiff of Flachslanden was appointed Russian General and received the Imperial Order of St. Prince Alexander Nevsky [Императорский

It is precisely this jewellery of the Order of Andrew, from the estate of Duke Wilhelm – though completely stripped of its jewels – that was presented to Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria by Tsar Pawel I Petrovich on 28 August 1799, and is now being offered in our Auction 415 on 28 October 2024 under lot number 371. It is likely to be one of the very few surviving diamond awards of the order from this period, even if only in the form of the casing. Experts nevertheless consider this object to be of historical and museum quality.

Michael Autengruber

Carl Theodor, Elector of Palatinate-Bavaria (1724-1799)

Prince Karl August of Bretzenheim (1768-1823)

Pavel I Petrovich, Tsar (Emperor) of Russia (1754-1801)

Literature:

Autengruber, Michael, and Feder, Klaus H.: Bayern und Malta – Das Großpriorat Bayern der Bayerischen Zunge des Souveränen Malteser Ritterordens und seine Insignien (1782-1808). Brannenburg and Konstanz 2002.

Freller, Thomas: The Anglo-Bavarian Langue of the Order of Malta. Malta 2001. Gavrilova, Liudmila: Treasures of the Order of Malta – Nine Centuries in the Service of Faith and Charity. Moscow 2012.

Taube, Baron Michel, de: L’Empereur Paul Ier de Russie Grand Maître de l'Ordre Souverain de Malte et “Grand Prieuré Russe” de l’Ordre de Saint-Jean-de-Jérusalem. Geneva and Paris 1982

Frà Johann Baptist Anton, Baron of Flachslanden (1739-1822)

Wilhelm Duke in Bavaria (1752-1837), around 1799

Wilhelm Duke in Bavaria (1752-1837), around 1810

Maximilian IV./I. Joseph Elector/King of Bavaria (1756-1825)

Maximilian von Montgelas (1759-1838)

Casing of the award of the Russian Order of St. Andrew in diamonds

Medals from the estates of ducal houses at Künker

At our Auction 415 of orders, decorations, coins and medals from the collections from the high nobility and of private individuals on 28 October 2024, a whole series of rare and very rare non-wearable medals, some in their cases, from the estates of ducal Bavarian and Württemberg and royal Bulgarian heirs will also be auctioned, including some early examples by the artist Karl Götz.

From the estate of Duke Max in Bavaria (“Zither-Maxl”, 1808 - 1888), father of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth (“Sisi”, 1837 - 1898), comes, for example, offered under Lot 361, the pair of official commemorative medals in gold for the marriage of Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830 - 1916, reigned beginning 1848) and Elisabeth Duchess in Bavaria on 24 April 1854 in Vienna, each for 35 ducats, diameter 55.8 mm, 986/000 ducat gold, weighing 122.2 and 122.3 g respectively, by Konrad Lange (1806 - 1856). The medals show the busts of the bridal couple on the obverse, facing right, with the die cutter’s signature “K.LANGE”. The reverse depicts the scene of the couple’s blessing by Joseph Othmar von Rauscher, Archbishop of Vienna, in the Augustinian Church in Vienna, and not -- as is often incorrectly stated in specialist literature -- in the Hofkapelle zu Wien. The two pieces are in the original, lavishly-designed presentation casket in Morocco leather, studded with brass appliqués, in which they were presented to Duke Max by his son-in-law, Emperor Franz Joseph I. These golden medals were only given to very close members of the bridal couple’s families.

A similar pair of medals, but in silver (Lot 362), comes from the estate of the younger brother of Empress Elisabeth, Carl Theodor, Duke in Bavaria (1839-1909). These two specimens are also in the original, lavishly-designed presentation casket in Morocco leather, studded with brass appliqués, in which they were presented to Duke Carl Theodor by his brother-inlaw Emperor Franz Joseph I. These are also somewhat rare examples of the medal, which should not be confused with the later restrikes, which are marked on the edge with “MÜNZE WIEN”.

From the estate of Maria José Duchess in Bavaria (1857-1943), née Infanta of Portugal, daughter of King Miguel I of Portugal (1802-1866, reigned from 1828 to 1834), married to Dr med. Carl Theodor Duke in Bavaria -- who later in life became an important ophthalmologist in München – comes the premium medal for services to medicine, which his wife Maria José Duchess in Bavaria donated on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Carl Theodor Duke in Bavaria on 9 August 1909 in gold, in silver (and in bronze?). The renowned medallist Alois Börsch (1855–1923) was commissioned with the design and production of the dies. The medals show on the obverse the bust of Carl Theodor facing left, with the die-cutter’s signature “A.BOERSCH” in the neck area; on the reverse is a five-line inscription in Latin under laurel branches. Of the gold medal, probably 14 ducats (Lot 285), diameter 41.1 mm, 986/000 gold, 48.7 g, only two copies were minted, the first in February 1910 (at 142.10 M), when Carl Theodor had already died, the second

Auction 415, Lot 361 Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Commemorative medal for the marriage of Emperor Franz Joseph I to Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria, on 24 April 1854 in Vienna.

A pair of gold medals, each worth 35 ducats.

In the original presentation box. From the estate of Duke Max Joseph in Bavaria (1808-1888). Extremely rare.

Estimate: 40,000 euros

in July 1910. Of the silver medal, silver, 44.2 g, two copies were struck (at 5.40 M) in February 1910. In July 1910, two more silver medals were struck, and in December 1910 another one in silver for the State Coin Collection. Three of these five copies are being offered in the auction (Lots 286, 287 and 288); the medals were no longer awarded due to the death of Carl Theodor on 30 November 1909.

The auction offers a whole range of other interesting Bavarian and foreign medals from the family of the dukes in Bavaria, including other rare pieces.

Michael Autengruber

Literature: Gebhardt, Klaus: Alois Börsch – Königlich Bayerischer Münz- und Hofmedailleur. München 1998.

The Ophthalmologist’s Sabre

On 11 October 1853, at the age of just fourteen, Carl Theodor Duke in Bavaria (1839–1909) joined the Bavarian army as a Second Lieutenant at the request of his father, Max Duke in Bavaria (1808–1888).

50 years later, having been promoted to General of Cavalry, equipped with his own regiment (the Royal Bavarian 3rd Chevaulegers Regiment Duke Carl Theodor), having been awarded a doctorate in medicine and become a renowned expert in ophthalmology with his own clinic, the Duke celebrated his fiftieth anniversary of service in the Bavarian army.

On this occasion, the officers of his regiment decided to present their sponsor with a special gift in the form of a Chevaulegers honorary sabre, for which the officers themselves raised the funds. The renowned armourer firm Karl Kaiser & Co. in Solingen was commissioned to make the sabre, and presumably also provided the design.

The design of the sabre blade, with its elaborate floral Art Nouveau decoration and Art Nouveau script, was striking even for München – the centre of the new style named after the magazine Die Jugend published there –and extremely modern for the time. This makes this sabre an important example of the widespread reception of this new art movement at the turn of the century, even in the decoration of military objects.

Michael Autengruber

It is an extraordinary, very luxuriously-crafted ceremonial sabre in the design of the sabres of the Royal Bavarian Chevaulegers, with a heavy grip handle showing a Bavarian lion and coat of arms, openwork, with floral decoration inside and outside, grip cap with lion’s head, the latter with red glass eyes, made of non-ferrous metal, hand-engraved, chased and gilded, probably with a polished bakelite handle with intact gold winding.

Artistically, however, the most remarkable feature of this sabre is the design of the blade: It is a Damascus steel blade with fullers on both sides, 93 cm long, with an etched floral Art Nouveau decoration, and the dedication in Art Nouveau script:

Das k. b. 3. Chevaulegers Regiment / seinem hohen Inhaber / HERZOG KARL THEODOR IN BAYERN K.HOHEIT / zur Feier seines 50jährigen Dienst= / Jubiläums am 11. Oktober 1903

… on the front side, as well as the names of the officers von Grundherr / Freiherr von / Gebsattel / Freiherr von / Crailsheim / Negrioli / Götz / Scherf / Schäffer / Cnopf / Willmer / Schrön / Hanemann / Thaler / Savoye / Münsterer / Welsch / Hammerbacher / Merckle / Freiherr von und / zu Aufsess / Herzog / Ludwig / Wilhelm / in Bayern / Richter / Lilier / Schilffarth / Roschmann

… on the back. The blade has a blued background and the raised parts are gilded. Unfortunately, it is not known who created this extremely tasteful Art Nouveau design, whether it was by the Kaiser & Co. company or by another artist. This purely decorative weapon has the manufacturer’s designation C / K / Co between two sabres on the ricasso, surmounted by an

Lot 325: A ceremonial sabre of the 3rd Chevaulegers Regiment made for the celebration of the golden service anniversary of Carl Theodor in Bavaria on 11 October 1903. Unique.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

Numismatic Museums Around the World: The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb

Today we want to share with you a positive story about a resilient group of people who refused to give up in the face of adversity: after being devastated by an earthquake in 2020, the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb opened its doors to the public again in July 2024. Numismatics played a significant role in this.

Iwill never forget my visit to the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb on 18 July 2020. My colleague, Prof. Dr. Ivan Mirnik, had promised to show me the coin cabinet, even though it was closed to the public. Only then did I learn just how much the entire cultural landscape of Zagreb had suffered from the consequences of an earthquake that I had not even heard about. Violent tremors had shaken the earth near Zagreb on 22 March 2020 – two weeks after the shock cancellation of the Numismata coin show. Our world had changed so rapidly since 7 March 2020, that news outlets were unable to cover everything that was happening. COVID-19 was dominating headlines – not only in Germany – and shifting attention away from other tragedies, such as an earthquake that had cost “only” one human life.

A Museum Destroyed

It was an intense magnitude 5.4 earthquake that rocked Zagreb. Several churches were severely damaged, and the roof of the Croatian parliament collapsed. The Archaeological Museum was also affected. Ceramics and glass display cases shattered, statues toppled, 178 exhibits were in some cases severely damaged, parts of the ceiling fell in, and the walls became tattooed with cracks. After the initial shock, curators rushed in to secure the objects. These were taken to the basement, only to be moved again hastily after a storm caused flooding in Zagreb at the end of March.

By the time I visited the museum in July, the initial shock had given way to a defiant “We’ll rebuild this no matter what!” sentiment. The curators of the Archaeological Museum have had all too much experience with this, unfortunately. The war for Croatia’s independence from communist Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995 had also left the museum in ruins; it was not to be reopened until shortly before the new millennium. Dr. Mirnik told me at the time that the funds for reconstruction were more or less available. Scholars, the public and politicians unanimously agreed the work should be done as quickly as possible.

A Symbol of Croatian Identity

The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb represents the Croatian identity, as does its coin collection. It has its roots in the Croatian national movement of the 19th century. The “Young Illyrians”, opposed to the Habsburg rule of the time, collected anything and everything that documented the emergence of Croatia as a nation. Coins played a very special role in this.

The Archaeological Museum showcased this in an exhibition in 2019, at a time when Croatia was preparing for the introduction of the euro. This meant that the country was abandoning its national currency, the kuna. Currencies with this name have existed on Croatian soil since the Middle Ages. The name likely dates back to the era of pre-money economy; the word “kuna” means marten, and marten pelts were the currency in which taxes and duties were paid in the Croatian region during the early Middle Ages.

Croatians are thus well aware even to this day of how important coins are for the identity of a nation, and that this is the reason the “Young Illyrians” started a coin collection in the 19th century. This collection was transferred to the new National Museum – the predecessor of the Archaeological Museum – upon its founding in 1836. The first curator cataloged approximately 1,000 coins. He was able to joyfully witness the rapid expansion of his collection. A little over a decade later, the catalog already comprised 26,000 items. By 1900, the Archaeological Museum’s coin collection had swelled to an impressive 100,000 items. They have been and indeed still are the subject of numerous numismatic catalogs and monographs, which the team of numismatists at the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb regularly publishes in both Croatian and English.

Today, the Archaeological Museum’s coin collection comprises some 280,000 items – mostly Roman coins, although the research focus leans more toward Celtic and medieval coinage.

Swift Reconstruction

It took four years to repair the worst of the damage and renovate the museum interior. A sum of 2 million euros was invested, most of which came from insurance. Financing was supplemented with a solidarity fund, domestic and international donations as well as funding from the city of Zagreb itself. A decision was taken to simultaneously earthquake-proof the building. Zagreb, after all, is situated at the junction of the Eurasian and African plates, rendering earthquakes relatively common. Indeed, the city even owes its present appearance to an earthquake. The modern city with the prestigious buildings we know today was only created after the earthquake of 1880 had reduced Zagreb – known at that time as Agram – to ruins.

Now only renovation of the façade is still pending. It will cost around 3 million euros, which Mayor Tomislav Tomašević has promised to finance from the city budget.

Coins in the Exhibition

Before the earthquake, the numismatic department had a permanent exhibition open to the public which had been compiled during the era of communist Yugoslavia. The people of Zagreb were very proud of the exhibition, as the presentation of the objects was groundbreaking for its time. In a darkened room almost reminiscent of a treasure vault, the coins were displayed on large plates and illuminated with spotlights. While this might differ somewhat to present day display methods, the creativity of the exhibition organizers deserves our respect. After all, in the shortage economy of communist Yugoslavia, they did not have the same resources available as we do today.

Nevertheless, the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb has now opted to follow the trend and integrate the coins into the general exhibition – resulting in several display cases containing coins that make the people of Zagreb justifiably proud.

The exhibition is just temporary, however. Miroslav Nađ, senior curator in the numismatic department, explains that only a few highlights are currently on display. As soon as circumstances allow it, a new permanent exhibition is to be designed, in which a much greater number of coins will be displayed.

The earthquake in Zagreb caused the tip of the cathedral’s southern spire, which was scaffolded at the time, to break off. Photo: UK.

The Mazin Hoard

Nevertheless, the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb is certainly worth a visit for anyone interested in numismatics. One highlight of the current exhibition, for example, is the hoard discovered in Mazin. It is testament to the extensive trade network of the Iapydes, a Celtic tribe that settled inland between the Istrian peninsula and Dalmatia from around the 9th century BC. Relatively little is known about the Iapydes, except that they ravaged Aquileia in 171 BC. The Romans repeatedly waged campaigns in their territory. At the hands of Augustus, the Iapydes were forcibly placed under Roman rule in a civitas.

The Mazin hoard was probably buried sometime during the first half of the 1st century BC. The hoard contains a vast array of items that actually have just one thing in common: they are all made of bronze, which was used to make weapons, tools and jewelry. It includes not only fragments of damaged bronze objects, but also heavy Roman coins, i.e. aes grave (45 pieces), aes signatum (17 pieces) and aes rude (456 pieces), as well as Roman Republic asses and the fractional pieces thereof. They all served as melting material – as did large bronze coins from Carthage (505 pieces) and Egypt (40 pieces) – and even two coins from Hieron II of Syracuse and the Arcadian city of Caphyae found their way into this hoard.

Discovered in a stone chest in 1896, the hoard also lent its name to other hoard discoveries of similar compositions. They take us back to the period of transition between money and ingots, show that what functioned as a coin in Roman and Greek cities quickly became an ingot again in rural areas, and illustrate just how seamless the transition from money to a means of barter was in ancient times.

The Mazin hoard is just one example of the many interesting objects and hoard discoveries housed at the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. If you end up visiting the Croatian capital during your vacation, be sure to plan a trip to the Archaeological Museum. And not just for the coins! Also because the resilience of our Croatian colleagues deserves respect.

Sometimes, it is not about putting on the biggest exhibition with the most amazing coins, but about spreading the joy and knowledge of numismatics against all odds!

Dr. Ursula Kampmann

A glimpse of the half-empty museum. Two toppled statues are still to be moved the basement. Photo: UK.

During my visit back in July 2020, the first signs were already visible that reconstruction work was to begin soon. Photo: UK.

A glimpse of the renovated rooms.

Photo: Miroslav Nađ / Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.

The Mazin hoard. Photo: Miroslav Nađ / Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.

The coin cabinet on the ground floor was temporarily used to store the rescued objects. Photo: UK.

Republic of Croatia. 500 kuna, 1941.

From the possession of the family of Croatian dictator Ante Pavelić.

From Künker auction 256 (2014), No. 6732.

Estimate: 3,000 euros. Hammer price: 5,000 euros. 2:1

Gold from Rhodes for the Battle for Rome

On 30 November 2024, Künker will be auctioning an aureus minted by Caesar’s assassins in 42 BC. The extremely rare piece is estimated at 100,000 euros. We tell the story of a coin that takes us back to the heart of the Roman civil war.

It always seems so simple: a knife, a bullet, a bit of poison and the tyrant is gone and freedom restored. But the men who successfully assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March in 44 BC found out that, unfortunately, the world does not work this way. Although Caesar fell to their daggers, nothing that happened afterwards went as planned: no one was interested in Brutus’ eloquent appeal to restore the Republic as his audience had fled to safety.

Brutus and Cassius Driven Out of Rome

What was to happen after the assassination? Nobody knew. So they decided to do nothing for the time being. On 17 March 44 BC, the survivors agreed not to change Caesar’s decrees, while his assassins were granted amnesty. This was a declaration of political ruin for both sides. Brutus and Cassius did not reap the fruits of their conspiracy, and Mark Antony refrained from taking revenge.

Of course, this agreement was not permanent. It was only a means to buy time for the battle lines to be drawn. In this process, Mark Antony discovered what a good hand fade had dealt him. He was a consul, while his opponents Cassius and Brutus were only praetors. This opened up a number of possibilities for him.

At the beginning of June, Mark Antony succeeded in persuading the Senate to assign his opponents the task of procuring grain in the provinces of Asia and Sicily respectively. An affront! A praetor’s place was in Rome. This mission was nothing more than a nicely disguised way of taking away their praetorships. It was a declaration of war, and it was understood as such. The next coup followed a few days later. Mark Antony had the Senate vote on which provinces Cassius and Brutus were to administer once they had completed their terms as praetors. They were given Crete and Cyrene respectively – the least important provinces in the entire Roman Republic! But

what could they to do? Assassinate Mark Antony, too? By then, they deeply regretted not having done so on the Ides of March. But public sentiment had turned. Brutus and Cassius no longer dared to enter Rome. They left Italy in early August and immediately began to gather supporters, collect resources and recruit soldiers in the eastern provinces. The official legal break came on 28 November 44 BC, when Mark Antony gave the provinces that had been allocated to Brutus and Cassius to someone else.

The Subjugation of Rhodes

Early in 42 BC, the two met in Smyrna to discuss the next steps. It was decided not to wage war against Mark Antony immediately, but to first defeat the only two powers in the east that had not yet surrendered. Rhodes and the Lycian League refused to finance the Roman civil war with their wealth. A terrible mistake. Brutus marched against the Lycians, and Cassius against Rhodes.

Appian tells us in detail how the two military commanders proceeded. At this point, we are only interested in the subjugation of Rhodes. Cassius’ troops were far superior to the naval force. First he defeated the Rhodian fleet in two naval battles, then he surrounded the city from both sea and land. When the Rhodians realized their defeat was inevitable, they opened the gates and surrendered, for better or worse. In this way, they probably saved their lives and their freedom. However, Cassius confiscated all their possessions, and not just the treasures found in the temples and public coffers. He demanded that all citizens surrender their private savings or be put to death. The Rhodians probably smiled at that, as they had already buried their savings to hide them. After all, citizens have always done this when looting was imminent. However, Cassius announced that anyone who knew of any treasure need only inform him. In return, the person would receive 10% of the confiscated property or, if they were a slave, freedom. According to Appian, this threat worked. After all, many rich Rhodians had not dug the holes where their treasures were buried themselves – their slaves had done so. For fear of being betrayed, they brought their treasures to Cassius. And Cassius was delighted to receive the impressive sum of 8,000 talents from the private property of the Rhodians

An Aureus Made of Rhodian Gold?

Cassius probably had the looted treasure minted immediately into coins so that he could pay the soldiers. Bernhard Woytek, in his comprehensive work on Roman economic history from 49 to 42 BC, dates the Crawford 500/6 issue to the period immediately after the looting and before Brutus’ victory over the Lycians. After all, Brutus does not yet bear the title in of Imperator on this coin, which he later assumed at the meeting in Sardis in mid-42 BC.

Glyptothek Munich. Photo: KW.

The Acropolis of ancient Rhodes. Photo: Ymakris, cc-by 4.0

Iunius Brutus. Aureus, 42 BC, mint in Asia Minor. P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther. Crawford 500/6. Purchased on 12 September 1969 at Spink & Son, London. Very rare. About extremely fine. Estimate: 100,000 euros. From Künker auction 416 (29/30 October), No. 1809.

On 30 October 2024, Künker is offering a magnificent aureus from this historically exciting issue at an estimate of 100,000 euros in auction 416. The about extremely fine piece was purchased on 12 September 1969 at Spink & Son in London. The mint master in charge of this issue was Publius Cornelius

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not to depict Libertas, the freedom-giving deity who frequently appeared on his coins on other occasions?

Matter of Motivation: You Are Fighting for a Just Cause!

To understand this, we must keep in mind that the concept of a “just war” played an important role in ancient Rome. According to belief, the gods would only grant victory to those whose cause was just. This involved not only moral justification, but also included the meticulous observance of all the religious ceremonies that were associated with warfare.

Before every war, and even before every battle, the will of the gods had to be determined through the interpretation of an omen. This was the task of the augur, who observed and interpreted the omens on behalf of the commander. If no augur was available, the commander himself took on this role. In

Lentulus Spinther, who served as legate under Cassius. In the spring of 42 BC, he supervised one of the two mints in Asia Minor that produced Cassius’ coins.

At first glance, the depiction seems to be quite generic. One side shows the curved staff and the jug – the insignia of the augur, an office that Legate Spinther had held since 57 BC. The other side seems to represent Brutus’ office as pontifex. The assassin of Caesar had probably been part of the College of Pontiffs since 51 BC. We can see the insignia of an axe, a culullus and a knife.

Knowing that these coins were intended to be given to legionaries going to war, one might wonder why Cassius did not opt for a theme more suited to a military campaign – like a depiction of Victoria or Virtus. And why did Cassius decide

general, people were content with a minimum of effort in times of war. It was enough to take some chickens and feed them a small cake. If they ate it, you could be sure to have the approval of the gods. We might laugh at this today. Perhaps we would rather see a divine message in the fact that the chickens did not peck at every crumb. Nevertheless, no Roman would have dared to do without observing the omen, let alone act contrary to it.

Once the gods had approved of the commander’s intentions, the latter made a vow to Jupiter, but would not act on it until after the victory. When we talk about Roman triumphal processions today, we tend to forget that they were actually nothing more than a glorified walk to the capitol in order to offer a promised sacrifice. The ritual tools a commander needed for this were the culullus, used to pour water over

the animal, a knife to cut off a tuft of its hair to throw it into the altar fire, and an axe to kill the animal – exactly the three insignia that we can see on the coin.

We can assume that these symbols and rituals were much more familiar to Roman soldiers than they are to us. When they looked at the coin, they will have immediately thought of the augurium and the victory celebration. And therefore the message of this coin is that the war of Brutus and Cassius is one that is deemed just by the gods and one that will be granted victory.

We know today that victory and defeat have nothing to do with whether a cause is just or not. History is written by the victory anyway, and no victor has ever admitted that his cause was a bad one. In any case, at the Battle of Philippi, fought in October 42 BC, Cassius was defeated and committed suicide. Brutus was initially victorious, but was defeated in a second battle and killed on the run. The resistance of Caesar’s assassins was crushed. But the struggle for power in Rome had only just begun.

Dr. Ursula Kampmann

Literature:

Jochen Bleicken, Augustus. Eine Biographie. Berlin 1998 Ernst Künzl, Der römische Triumph – Siegesfeiern im antiken Rom. Munich 1988 Bernhard Woytek, Arma et Nummi. Forschungen zur römischen Finanzgeschichte und Münzprägung der Jahre 49 bis 42 v. Chr. Vienna 2003

Bull decorated for sacrifice. KHM, Vienna. Photo: KW.

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Clémentine d’Orléans: Extraordinary Woman and Coin Collector

Few women have left such a decisive mark on the history of 19th-century Europe as Cleméntine d’Orléans, and yet it was not until 2007 that her life was honored with a biography. Künker is delighted to be able to offer a coin collection that once belonged to this woman.

On 3 June 1817, Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, wife of Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans, gave birth to her sixth of what would eventually be ten children: a daughter, elaborately christened Marie Clémentine Léopoldine Caroline Clotilde. At the time of her birth, Louis Philippe was far from a contender for the throne. He was serving as general in the French army and was a loyal supporter of the recently restored Bourbons Louis XVIII and Charles X.

There may have been a slight uneasiness, however, as Louis Philippe’s father – an enthusiastic supporter of the Enlightenment – had supported the French Revolution under the name Philippe Égalité. Although, like many others, he had died on the guillotine during the Reign of Terror, he had raised his son according to the ideals of a new, enlightened and economically strong bourgeoisie. Maybe this is what gave Louis Philippe his uncanny ability to read the signs of the times. He traveled to England and the United States and had discussions with (for that time) progressive politicians like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. At the same time, though, he also maintained strong ties to important banking houses such as Rothschild and Laffitte.

Louis Philippe perfectly knew how to handle money, including his own. He used the most modern investment methods to expand the already enormous family fortune. Even before his accession to the throne, Louis Philippe was one of the wealthiest men in France. As early as 1821, his fortune was estimated at around 8 million francs –and it was to increase considerably.

A Modern Upbringing for the Children

Louis Philippe also shared the upbringing ideals of the French bourgeoisie. The fact that family life should be loving and involve plenty of contact between parents and children was a given for him. Clémentine – or Titine, as she was affectionately called by her siblings – experienced an almost normal upbringing. They dined and celebrated as a family; they traveled together to the countryside, where Titine and her siblings gallivanted in parks and swam in ponds.

Naturally, each of the children also received an excellent education. For the girls, this meant a troupe of governesses and tutors who taught them embroidery and dancing, etiquette and conversation, and, of course, the mastery of a musical instrument (the harp, in Clémentine’s case) that was inevitably expected of every little girl. The syllabus was rounded off by various languages as well as religious education personally provided by Maman. The father was also involved in educating his children. He had some experience, after all, having taught French to make ends meet during his years of exile. Louis Philippe taught his children history and geography using memorabilia from the family estate. Clémentine completed her education by embarking on the Grand Tour, which was more usual for young men at the time. She journeyed to the mountains of Switzerland and beheld the wonders of Italy.

Whether Clémentine had already begun to take an interest in coins at this time cannot be known for sure. But we do know that she was not the only family member interested in numismatics. Among her close relatives were several prominent collectors. The most wellknown of these today is Henri,

Duke of Aumale, who assembled such an extensive collection of paintings and art objects that his coin collection tends to be forgotten. Clémentine’s eldest son Philipp was also an ambitious numismatist. He published works on oriental numismatics, and his collection was auctioned off by the Leo Hamburger auction house in Frankfurt in 1928.

Although, in the 19th century, it was widely considered good form for an educated man to collect at least a few coins, this was not really the case for women. And the reason for this probably was not even a lack of interest: most women just did not have the necessary financial means to purchase coins. But this was not the case for Clémentine. She had one of the largest fortunes in Europe.

Old Nobility, New Funds

Clémentine had learned from her father how to handle money: how to invest it, grow it, and ultimately use it to achieve one’s political goals. Her father Louis Philippe was masterful at this, after all.

Bear in mind: when Charles X was overthrown by a bourgeois revolution on 28 July 1830, the rebels did not dare confront Europe with a new republic. Instead, parliament elected (!) a “compromise king” who represented bourgeois ideals but still had enough royal flair to function as king. This compromise king was Clémentine’s father, Louis Philippe.

The implications of this are best summarized in a scathing comment made by Prussian King Frederick William IV when, in a similar situation 18 years later, he refused to accept the title of German Emperor: “Any German nobleman with a cross or line in his coat of arms is a hundred times too worthy to accept such a diadem, forged from the dirt and sediment of revolution, treachery and high treason.”

Let that sink in and consider how the old high nobility must have felt about the children of a king who had done exactly that. In the past, the sons and daughters of French kings had married heirs to the throne of the most important royal houses in Europe. Louis Philippe had no choice but to seriously reconsider the marriage plans for his offspring. Of all the daughters of the Citizen King, only one became a queen.

Clémentine d’Orléans. Painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1846.

Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People: an allegory of the July Revolution of 1830.

The Rise of the Saxe-Coburg-Koháry Family

Clémentine had thus become one of the wealthiest, bestconnected, most intelligent and best-educated women in Europe. And she used all her formidable skills to ensure her children were positioned in a manner that offered them the prospect of ruling over Europe. Clémentine had meanwhile learned that, when a dynasty came to an end, it was no longer the rulers who decided who should become king. In the 19th century, this matter had been taken over by the citizens of the newly emerging nation states. They would contact potential candidates, hear what they had to offer and ultimately choose whoever promised the best diplomatic connections and the largest infrastructure investments. And money was something the Saxe-Coburg-Koháry family had plenty of. The sons thus had to marry suitably to ensure they would be positioned as potential candidates for the throne.

It suddenly becomes clear why the eldest son, Philipp, had married the eldest daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium. Leopold had no male heir, which meant the question of the throne would arise after his death. But it never came to that; the marriage between Philipp and Louise was dreadfully unhappy and they divorced in 1906 – three years prior to Leopold’s death.

The situation was similar for Clémentine’s second-eldest son, Ludwig August. He married Leopoldina of Brazil, whose father, Dom Pedro II, also had no male heir. In this case, however, the imperial father-in-law was dethroned in a military coup.

The youngest son, Ferdinand I, succeeded where his brothers had failed – and it did not even require a marriage. The Bulgarians came knocking and requested that Ferdinand accede to the throne. We do not know what promises they received in return; we only know that Clémentine’s immense fortune was crucial to the expansion of the Bulgarian rail network. We reported on this in detail last year in our article about Tsar Ferdinand I and the railroad.

Collecting Coins: A Meaningful Pastime for the Retired

The collection comprises approximately 300 ancient coins, from the ancient Greek to the Byzantine era. As one might expect, the focus among the Greek coins is on the more wellknown coin types, i.e. coins from the city of Athens or from the Macedonian rulers Philipp II and Alexander. The Celtic specimens are mostly imitations of the Thassian and Alexander coin types. Then there are numerous Roman coins, mainly denarii and bronze coins from the Republican and Imperial periods, and especially from the 3rd and 4th centuries. There are also some gold coins, mainly from the late Roman period. Clémentine furthermore specialized in Byzantine numismatics. She meticulously identified her coins using J. Sabatier’s catalog, Description Générale des Monnaies Byzantines, which was considered the standard reference even up until the 1970s.

The small slips of paper enclosed with her coins were probably from Clémentine’s own hand. A handwriting comparison with earlier letters – granted, a rather superficial one – suggests that she wrote the notes herself, albeit with a much higher degree of care and neatness than the letters.

Clémentine described the coins in accordance with standard practice of the time, including the complete legends on the obverse and reverse. She looked for a reference and gave a price in francs (the purchase price? an estimate? the insurance value?).

The references give us a hint as to when she was most involved with her collection. The publications mentioned on the slips of paper date to the end of the 19th century; it may therefore be that Clémentine only devoted herself to her coin collection toward the end of her life, which would also explain the careful script of an elderly woman. Incidentally, the auctions mentioned are probably rather to be understood as a reference than as a provenance.

And even then, she married Leopold I, who only acceded to the Belgian throne following the revolution of 1830.

Clémentine, who was strong-willed and did not conform to the beauty standards of her time, took a particularly long time to find a suitable husband. She eventually married 1843 – at the (for that time) ripe old age of 26.

One of Europe’s Wealthiest Women

As her husband, she chose the slightly younger Prince August of Saxe-Coburg-Koháry. On his father’s side, he belonged to the most well-connected noble house, and he could expect to inherit a vast fortune from his mother’s side. Even if not for Clémentine herself, this presented great potential at least for her descendants.

Was there another aspect that made this marriage attractive to Clémentine? We can only guess based on a letter written by her mother shortly after the wedding: “Il [meaning the groom] dit toujours Amen à tout ce qu’elle veut.” (= he says yes to everything she wants).

August gave Clémentine free reign to handle and expand the family fortune. Her dowry had amounted to one million francs. Added to this were her trousseau and wedding gifts, worth a total of 300,000 francs. Her husband received an annual allowance of 100,000 francs and Clémentine herself 50,000 francs. A lot of money, but by no means a large fortune. With clever investments, however, Clémentine turned it into one. Imagine the practicalities: thanks to her ties to many leading European families, Clémentine was able to obtain reliable insider information. She likely utilized this knowledge to mercilessly game the stock market and rake in huge sums.

The mother of Clémentine’s husband, August, died in 1861. He inherited most of her property, including estates, forests, mines and factories on more than 150,000 hectares in Lower Austria, Hungary and present-day Slovakia. This inheritance catapulted Clémentine into a completely different league financially.

Clémentine was born on 3 June 1817. She died in Vienna on 16 February 1907, having reached the impressive age of 89. Like many people who have led a full life, she too sought interesting pastimes to keep her occupied in her old age. One of these was coin collecting. The Künker auction house is proud to offer the coin collection of this interested and educated Princess at auction 416, where it is sold as lot 2166.

The Princess apparently owned the work by Sabatier but not the most important catalog of Roman coinage at the time, which was written by Henry Cohen between 1859 and 1868 and was also available in a second edition from 1880. The Roman coins therefore appear to have been of less interest to Clémentine than the Byzantine coins. Otherwise, she most certainly would have acquired Henry Cohen’s work. She likely considered her interest in coins more as a historical diversion helping her to pass the long hours of her old age.

Prince August of Saxe-Coburg-Koháry (1818-1881), photo by the studio of L. Angerer.

Ferdinand I. Large gold medal commemorating the completion of the railroad line between Yambol and Burgas. 110 ducats, 1890.

Ferdinand I of Bulgaria.

Please do not be surprised that Clémentine, despite her wealth, acquired coins that we no longer consider attractive today. As was common at the time, the collector did not see her coins as an investment, but as historical artefacts. As long as portrait and legend were clearly recognizable, a coin’s condition was not important. Even pierced coins and those with graffiti on them had a place in people’s collection since this gave collectors a sense of the myriad hands the pieces must have passed through.

And there is another modern viewing habit you will have to ignore for this collection: very much a child of her times, Clémentine took it for granted that the head or image of the ruler indicated the obverse of a coin. Whereas, today, we interpret the obverse and reverse technically – the obverse die is laid into the anvil, the reverse die is struck onto the coin – Clémentine describes her Byzantine coins in such a way that the obverse always features the image of the emperor.

It is a great stroke of luck that this collection has been preserved as an ensemble. We have therefore decided to keep it this way and offer it as a whole. After all, this collection is a superb example of a typical 19th-century coin collection. It deserves a detailed scholarly publication, as does the Princess’s activity as a collector. We would be thrilled if the collection attracts a buyer willing to undertake such a publication.

Dr. Ursula Kampmann

Elephant Coins II

In the first part of this article on elephants on ancient coins, which was published in our last Exklusiv issue, we saw how the Greeks first came into contact with ivory and eventually elephants. Alexander the Great was the first Greek ruler to be confronted with elephants in battle. For his heirs, the “Diadochi” who divided Alexander’s empire among themselves and the Hellenistic kings who succeeded them, the military use of elephants – an abuse of these poor creatures – had already become common place. When these kings of the East fought against each other, or against the Celts that had invaded Asia Minor, it was beyond question that their means of war included elephants. In some of these battles that changed the course of world history, elephants played a decisive role alongside cavalry. The Seleucids, who ruled the eastern part of Alexander’s empire, used war elephants more than any other dynasty. The expansion of their territory gave the Seleucids easy access to the elephants of India, enabling them to establish a military base with nearly 500 animals at Apamea in Syria. When the Seleucid king Antiochus III (the Great) was defeated by the Romans, who were expanding into the eastern Mediterranean, he had to agree to abolish his elephant

troops in the Treaty of Apamea (in Asia Minor) in 188 BC. When the king failed to honor the terms of the treaty, the Senate sent a delegation to Apamea to supervise the slaughter of the Seleucid war elephants.

Roman soldiers soon lived in terror of Pyrrhus’s elephants. At the Battle of Heraclea in southern Italy in 280 BC, it was the elephants who decided the outcome of the battle. The huge animals, the likes of which no Roman legionary had ever seen before, made the otherwise fearless Roman farmer soldiers panic and caused them to lose their heads as they thought they were being attacked by huge monsters. The horses of the Roman cavalry shied away from the elephants. Since Heraclea was located in the Lucanian countryside, and because the elephants’ tusks resembled the long horns of wild bulls, the Romans attributed their defeat to an unexpected attack of “Lucanian bulls”. In the battle fought in the next year at Asculum (or Ausculum) in northern Apulia, it was again the elephants that helped Pyrrhus to victory. However, this victory came with so many losses that it truly was the proverbial “Pyrrhic victory”. Plutarch (c. AD 45-125), who wrote about Pyrrhus’s life, said that the charging elephants resembled “the rolling of a sea wave or an all-consuming earthquake”. It was not until the Battle of Beneventum in 275 BC that the Romans developed a tactic to successfully defeat the elephants of Pyrrhus. They attacked them with flaming

It is easier to understand why the Romans dealt with Seleucid elephants in such a brutal way when we bear in mind Rome’s previous experience with war elephants. The first elephants to set foot on Italian soil were those of King Pyrrhus (c. 319272 BC; fig. 1). He was an ambitious king of the Molossian tribe, and wanted more than to rule Epirus (a mountain region on the north-west coast of Greece). Pyrrhus was driven by the desire to become king of Macedonia and a second Alexander, so to speak. So when the southern Italian city of Taranto came under pressure from expanding Rome, he seized the opportunity to stage himself as the defender of Greeks in the West. He claimed to be a descendant of Achilles and wanted to fight the descendants of the Trojans, i.e., the Romans. That is why he sailed to Taranto with 25,000 soldiers and at least 20 elephants in the spring of 280 BC. This military campaign was a logistical challenge. Up to that point, war elephants had never been transported by ship over such a long distance. The arrival of Pyrrhus and his elephants is reflected on the coins of Taranto. An Indian elephant was added to the traditional coin design of Taranto’s silver pieces (horseman / dolphin rider; fig. 2). However, the cost of Pyrrhus’s campaign was so high that the weight of Taranto’s silver coins was reduced at this point so that more coins could be brought into

projectiles and squealing pigs, which they unleashed to terrify the approaching pachyderms (Aelian, On Animals I:37 and Pliny, Natural History VII:27). It is possible that one type of heavy Roman money (fig. 3), showing an elephant on one and a pig on the other side, refers to this Roman strategy. In this way, the Romans managed to make the elephants turn around at the Battle of Beneventum, and the elephants trampled to death many of those who had brought them to this war in the first place. Pyrrhus lost the battle and retreated to Greece. The triumphal procession for the victory over Pyrrhus in 275 BC also included elephants: for the first time in history, the Romans got an opportunity to marvel at these Indian beasts. And the Romans gained confidence as they had experienced that they were indeed able to deal with these giants.

Fig. 3: Roman aes signatum from the 1st half of the 3rd century BC with elephant and pig: E.J. Haeberlin, Aes Grave. Das Schwergeld Roms und Mittelitaliens einschliesslich der ihm vorausgehenden Rohbronzewährung, Frankfurt 1919, plate 59.

Fig. 1: Bust of King Pyrrhus of Epirus (National Museum in Naples; Marie-Lan Nguyen, Wikipedia).

Fig. 2: Nomos of Taranto, reduced standard, 280-275 BC (Künker eLive Auction 59, 25 March 2020, Lot 8014).

Monetae: Medien aristokratischer Selbstdarstellung. Das Beispiel der Caecilii Metelli, in: F. Haymann – W. Hollstein – M. Jehne (eds). Neue Forschungen zur Münzprägung der Römischen Republik. Beiträge zum internationalen Kolloquium im Residenzschloss Dresden 19.-21 June 2014 (Nomismata 8), Bonn 2016, 49-82).

In the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), Hannibal’s war, the Romans once again had to deal with Carthaginian elephants. This time, the elephants did not come into Italy from the south, but from the north. Hannibal’s father, Hamilcar Barca, had set up a base of Carthaginian war elephants in Spain – probably near Gades/Cádiz – where more than 100 animals were kept (fig. 5a-b).

4a-c: Denarius by mint master M. Caecilius Metellus Diadematus, 128 BC: Helmeted Roma to the right; behind her X = denarius // ROMA; Roma in a biga to the right, below Metelli elephant head (Künker 262, 13 March 2015, Lot 7459). –

Denarius by mint master M. Caecilius Metellus, 127 BC, alluding to his father’s victory over Macedon: ROMA; head of Roma to the right, in the field in front of her X (= denarius) // Macedonian shield with elephant head at the center, surrounded by M METELLVS Q F, around it a laurel wreath (Künker 367, 6 April 2022, Lot 7643). –Denarius by Pompeian Q. Metellus Pius Scipio imp., adopted from the Scipio family into the Metelli family; minted in 47-46 BC in Africa; he committed suicide after Caesar’s victory at Thapsus: Q METEL – PIVS; head of Jupiter to the right // SCIPIO | PIVS; elephant to the right (Künker 396, 13 November 2023 Lot 1109).

After the death of his father and his brother-in-law, Hannibal led 37 of these elephants across the Alps to Italy. There were many difficulties to overcome, but the ingenious military leader seems to have mastered them all. Even taking the animals across the Rhône was a great challenge. The heliogravure of a painting by the French history painter Henri-Paul Motte (1846-1922) shows imaginatively and yet quite true to what we know from ancient historiographers how this crossing of a raging river with heavy elephants could have taken place (fig. 6). According to ancient authors, Hannibal’s elephants survived the crossing of the Alps without any losses. Exotic and gigantic, the animals helped to keep the warring Alpine tribes at a distance, and they could also move heavy boulders out of the way. At the Battle of the Trebia on 18 December 218 BC, which caused the death of 20,000 Romans,

elephants played an important role. In the following period – it was winter – the elephants died of the cold in northern Italy. They played no role in the Battle of Lake Trasimene (217 BC) and the Battle of Cannae (216 BC). It was not until the decisive Battle of Zama – near Carthage – in 202 BC that Hannibal could deploy a large number of elephants again. However, he was defeated by the military genius of Scipio, who gained the nickname Africanus as a result of this battle.

However, this was not the end of the threat posed to Rome by hostile powers that used elephants for war. In 264 BC, Rome was involved in an armed conflict with Carthage. This First Punic War was mainly about who was to control Sicily. A first decision was made when the Roman consul of 251 and proconsul of 250, Lucius Caecilius Metellus, defeated the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal at the Battle of Panormus (Palermo), capturing many elephants. This time they were African elephants. Drawing on their experience from the battle against Pyrrhus, the Romans fought them off with fire and a hail of arrows and spears, causing them to trample their own men. Metellus had to build large rafts to transport the 120 captured elephants across the Strait of Messina to the mainland. He succeeded, and was thus able to show the Romans many African elephants in his triumphal procession. The elephants were ultimately slaughtered, as the thrifty Romans did not want to provide so much food for these useless animals. However, the many elephants of Lucius Caecilius Metellus made such a lasting impression that the Caecilii Metelli came to be known as the dynasty that defeated the elephants. The descendants of the elephant victor of Panormus/Palermo repeatedly commemorated their ancestor’s great achievements in the First Punic War by issuing coins of the Roman Republic featuring elephants (fig. 4a-c). The elephant became the heraldic animal of the Metelli (K.-J. Hölkeskamp, Memoria – Monumenta –

Fig.

Fig. 4a

Fig. 4b

Fig. 5a: Double shekel of the Barcids, minted in Spain in the 2nd half of the 3rd century BC: Bust of Melqart/Heracles with club on his shoulder to the left // Elephant with mahout striding to the right (Künker 376, 18 October 2022, Lot 4230).

Fig. 5b: Bronze coin of the Spanish city of Lascuta where the Carthaginian elephant basis was probably located: Melqart/Heracles with club to the right // Elephant to the right (CNG, ElectAuct 112, 13 April 2005, Lot 2).

Fig. 7: Caesar’s elephant, minted for the Spanish campaign of 49 BC: Elephant striding to the right fighting a serpent / Pontifex utensils: simpulum, aspergillum, axe and apex (Künker eLive Auction 80, 5 December 2023, Lot 1134, 18 mm).

The unattractive pinched edges are a sign of a moving field mint.

Fig. 4c

Fig. 8: Modern statue Caesar at the Rubicon (JN 2016).

The elephant coins of the Metelli might have given Caesar (100-44 BC) the idea of depicting an elephant on the coins that he had minted for his Spanish campaign in 49 BC (fig. 7). On 7 January 49, the Senate tried to overthrow Caesar and transfer the power of state to his opponent Pompey and his supporters. Following this, Caesar crossed the Rubicon on 10 January (fig. 8), starting a new chapter in the Roman civil war. Caesar marched on Rome, and Pompey fled to Greece. Caesar then forced Pompey’s legions in Spain to surrender in a blitzkrieg that lasted 40 days. Caesar’s elephant is an elephant fighting a serpent that has reared up in front of him. The elephant represents the good side in the civil war: Caesar. He fights the evil beast (the serpent), and defeats it (see B. Woytek, Arma et Nummi. Forschungen zur römischen Finanzgeschichte und Münzprägung der Jahre 49 bis 42 v. Chr. [Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophischhistorische Klasse, Denkschriften 312], Vienna 2003, 119-142). In Natural History (VIII:32-34), Pliny describes the elephant’s fight with the serpent: Elephants are produced by Africa beyond the deserts of Syrtis and by the country of the Moors; also by the land of Ethiopia and the Trogodytae, as has been said; but the biggest ones by India, as well as serpents that keep up a continual feud and warfare with them, the serpents also being of so large a size that they easily encircle the elephants in their coils and fetter them with a twisted knot. In this duel both combatants die together, and the vanquished elephant in falling crushes with its weight the snake coiled round it. When Caesar had this coin minted in 49 BC, he had no idea that eventually the serpent of the civil war would bring him, the elephant, down on the Ides of March.

The elephants that increasingly appeared on Roman coins were African elephants. And so were the elephants that found their way into the Roman circus during the imperial period. It was considered a matter of “generosity” for a Roman emperor to have African elephants perform in the circus. Their performances delighted the people of Rome. The emperor wanted to show off his power and his wealth with such an exclusive entertainment program. And that is why he maintained an elephant base not far from Rome. Antoninus Pius had elephants perform in the circus to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his reign. And to this day, asses with the depiction of an elephant and the legend MVNIFICENTIA/generosity recall these festivities (fig. 9).

Imprint

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Fig. 6: Heliogravure modeled after a painting by Henri Motte, 1878, Hannibal’s elephants are transported across the Rhône.

Fig. 10: Aureus from 43, issue of the praetors

L. Cestius and Gaius Norbanus: bust of Africa with elephant scalp to the right // two sellae curules standing next to each other (Künker 351, 25 September 2021, No. 282).

Fig. 9: As by Antoninus Pius, minted for the 10th anniversary of his reign: head of Antoninus Pius to the right // Elephant striding to the right (Künker 262, 13 March 2015, No. 8070).

Therefore it should not come as a surprise that the Romans regarded Africa as the land of the elephant. That is why the elephant became the symbol of Africa, and still is. An elephant’s head was therefore placed on the personification of Africa. This is the case, for example, on an aureus minted in 43 BC – in the midst of the turmoil following Caesar’s death – by the two praetors L. Cestius and C. Norbanus on behalf of the Senate. The coin features the personification of Africa with an elephant scalp (fig. 10). Such a scalp can also be seen on Hadrian’s travel coins (fig. 11a-b). On modern coins, the African elephant can be found on English Guinea pieces. An elephant with howdah was the emblem of the British Royal African Company, which sourced the gold for English gold coins – for example this 5-guinea piece of William III (fig. 12) – in Africa, particularly in the Gold Coast region, which roughly corresponds to today’s state of Ghana. Since the early modern period, most of West Africa had been referred to as Guinea. The name comes from the Portuguese, which had adopted the Arabic name for the region, Guinauha (Land of the Blacks).

An elephant also appears on the 15-rupee gold coin minted in 1916 in Tabora (then German East Africa). The Allies had severed the colony’s links to the German motherland, which is why the German colonial administration decided to mint its own gold coins, using gold from the Sekenke Gold Mine to remain solvent. The obverse of the coin was originally intended to feature Emperor William, but the engravers in East Africa were unable to create a beautiful portrait of the emperor for their

Obituary

Jörg Nimmergut

*27 August 1939 –

19 May 2024

On Whitsunday, 19 May 2024, Jörg Nimmergut died in München at the age of almost 85 years, after a long illness that he had patiently endured.

Jörg Nimmergut was born on 27 August 1939 in Berlin. After graduating from high school, he first studied Education in Berlin and then Romance Studies and German Studies in München. He subsequently attended the Bavarian Academy for Advertising and Marketing in München.

In 1964, he founded an advertising agency, which he ran until 2006. His first book “Werben mit Sex” (Advertising with Sex) (München 1966) attracted much attention, and he was investigated for “disseminating lewd writings”. In 1972, he wrote “Schule der erfolgreichen Bewerbung“ (School of Successful Promotion)(München 1972 - 1992), which was published in ten editions.

Beginning in the early 1970s, Jörg Nimmergut turned his attention to one of his personal interests, phaleristics. In 1974 he was one of the co-founders (with membership number 5) of the Bund Deutscher Ordenssammler e. V. (BDOS), from which the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ordenskunde e. V. (German Society for Phaleristics, DGO) emerged in 2010. From its beginning until the end of 1978, he was the editor of the association’s journal Orden Journal – after 1976 called Orden & Militaria Journal. In early 1980, he founded the Förderkreis Deutsche Ordensmuseum e. V. (Support Circle for the German Orders Museum, FDOM) based in München. From 1981 until the end of 1987, he was a leading member of the editorial team of the FDOM’s INFO magazine, which he founded. The BDOS and FDOM merged at the beginning of 1989, and he became a member of the DGO’s Scientific Advisory Board in the autumn of 2004.

In 1982, he played a leading role in the founding of the Orders Museum in Neuffen, which still exists. From 1987 to 1992, he worked as Director and curator of the German Orders Museum in Lüdenscheid, which he also initiated. From 1993 to 2007, he was also a publicly appointed and -sworn expert for German

dies. They therefore decided to go with the symbol of Africa, the elephant. This is why 16,198 elephant coins were minted in 1916. Today they are sought-after collector’s items (fig. 13).

Prof. Dr. Johannes Nollé

orders and decorations by the München Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Jörg Nimmergut, himself a collector of orders and decorations, was a phaleristician of great creativity. He developed the Deutschland-Katalog 1977/78 Orden & Ehrenzeichen 1800 - 1945 (OEK), the first edition of which was published in the summer of 1977. Since then, this catalogue has seen a total of 24 editions under Jörg’s aegis and later also under that of his wife Anke, the latest appearing in 2023. The OEK can safely be described as his most significant and lasting work. It was a great honour for me to work with him and his wife Anke on the most recent edition, the 24th, and to receive the responsibility for the 25th edition and future editions from him personally with the well-intentioned words “Do what you want with it!”

Other works he authored and edited: Deutsche Orden (München 1979, 2nd edition 1982); Orden Europas (München 1981, 4th edition Regenstauf 2007); Deutsche Militaria (München 1982); Das Eiserne Kreuz (The Iron Cross)1813 - 1939 (Lüdens 1990) – which has even been published in a Russianlanguage edition Железный крест 1813-1870-1914-1939-1957; Deutsche Orden und Ehrenzeichen bis 1945 in five volumes

(München 1997 - 2004); Bänderkatalog Orden Ehrenzeichen Deutschland 1800 - 1945 (München 1991, 3rd edition Regenstauf 2008); Bibliographie zur deutschen Phaleristik (Regenstauf 2007); Abzeichen und Auszeichnungen deutscher Kriegervereine (Insignia and Decorations of German War Veterans‘ Associations) (Regenstauf 2014); Deutsche Militärische Dienstauszeichnungen (German Military Service Decorations) 1816 - 1941 (Regenstauf 2023). He was working on a book about awards in art and science when he passed away.

He was also an editor of other authors’ works on orders, decorations and medals, and the author of countless phaleristic articles.

In 2019, Nimmergut published a very exciting and voluminous work about the Greek entrepreneur, arms dealer and patron Basil Zaharoff (1849-1936), one of the most colourful stringpullers in the period before the First World War, in the form of the non-fiction novel Zaharoff – Das Chamäleon.

Jörg was the recipient of numerous high honours, including the IAA Youth Award of the International Advertising Association (1964), the Belgian Rubens Medal for Art and Culture (1988), the Von Hessenthal Prize for Phaleristics of the BDOS (1992), and the Award for Special Services to the Austrian Society for Phaleristic Studies (2001).

Some collectors and phaleristicians may remember that Jörg was not always an easy conversation partner in professional discussions. Sometimes he had difficulty accepting other opinions. However, we should not forget the diverse and to some extent groundbreaking pioneering work that Jörg did with his phaleristic publications for the benefit of a broad community of collectors and scholars.

On Whitsunday, 19 May 2024, Jörg Nimmergut died at his home in München in the presence of his wife Anke and, in accordance with his own wishes, was buried in a private ceremony.

Jörg, I will sorely miss the extremely stimulating discussions about orders, decorations and medals, badges of honour, and the world at large, accompanied by a good red wine, at your home with you and Anke!

Michael Autengruber

Jörg Nimmergut.

Fig. 11a: Ace of Hadrian, ca. 130-133 AD: Head of Hadrian to the right // Personification of Africa with elephant exuviae (CNG & Numismatica Ars Classica & Numismatica Genevensis SA 144, Cope Collection, 8.5.2024, Lot 1065).

Fig. 11b: Denarius of Hadrian, ca. 130-133 AD: Head of Hadrian to the right // Personification of Africa with elephant exuviae (Künker 397, 14.11.2023, Lot 2672).

Fig. 12: Great Britain, 5 Guineas 1699: Bust of William III. to the right, below the bust the heraldic animal of the British Royal African Company, an elephant with a carrying basket/Howdah // Coat of arms of William III. (Künker 331, 30.1.2020, Lot 838).

Fig. 13: German East Africa, 15 rupees; elephant to the right. // Eagle of the German Empire (Künker & Heidelberger Münzhandlung Herbert Grün 44, 10.11.2005, Lot 1957).