Holy Roman Empire/ Toscana/ GranDuchy AV Ruspone 1781 Firenze Mint Pietro Leopoldo The GranDuke would later be elected Leopold II 1790-92 Holy Roman Emperor/ off to cut lawns...
I always wondered why the National Socialist Govt. did not strike gold coinage. One would think a bombastic man like Hitler would have loved his portrait on a 1000 Reich Mark AV coin.
France AV Écu d'or au soleil 1590 Paris Mint Charles X Cardinal de Bourbon 1589-90 NOTE: All gold coins of Charles X are crappy strikes/ surprised he did not have his mint master/ director sent to the "axe man" Also/ in 1589 King Henri III died childless/ meanwhile his Sister Marguerite de Valois was forced to marry the Huguenot (Protestant) Henry of Navarre in 1567. That same year Pope Gregorius XIII and French Catholics decided to wipe out the Huguenots on St Batholomews Day Massacre". They killed a lot of them/ some escaped (famed German ace Adolf Galland) was descended from French Protestants that escaped to Germany. Back to Cardinal de Bourbon/ he was imprisoned by Henri III/ after the King died/ the Catholic League made him King/ instead of Henry of Navarre (Henri IV)
Wow, some mixed up politics back then. Almost as bad as now a daze...that is a rather sorry looking coin, tho the value is in the gold, no doubt. I should post a coin, next door Belgium. 1905 2 centimes
Thanks Sal. I love this pattern of coin, with the big lion and the stone tablets. Not sure what it all symbolizes, and that is OK. These are in slightly better condition.
I suspect that because the Germans owed the French, the US, Britain, well . . . everyone in fact, that they did not want to use gold for coins, but to meet payments. And Hitler needed gold to buy stuff for the war effort. I may have read that somewhere, but let's just call it a guess. I've always wondered why he got himself on postage stamps but not coins.
Burgundy/ Geldr/ Herzogtum AV St. Jans Clemmergulden ND (1499-1511) Njimegen Mint Karel van Egmont 1492-1538