Austria: silver Maria Theresia thaler, "1780" (modern Austrian mint restrike, ca. 1853-present) Obverse: bust of Maria Theresia right. Reverse: crowned imperial double eagle, heads in haloes. Edge: raised lettering with ornamentation. Issuer: Austrian mint (originally; restruck by various world mints 1853-present). Specifications: .833 fine silver, .7517 oz. ASW. 41 mm, 28.06 g. Grade: Brilliant Uncirculated. Reference: KM-T1, Numista-7393. Provenance: ex-Don Rupp ("ajaan" on Collectors Universe, 3 September 2019). Notes: The "1780" Maria Theresia thalers (are one of the world's most famous trade coins, and have been officially restruck by the Austrian mint (and other mints outside Austria) since 1853, with the "1780" date "frozen" in time. Many varieties exist, and some are worth a premium. This example was likely produced sometime in the late 20th or early 21st century, judging from its quality. It is quite flashy, with some faint bagmarking but booming cartwheel luster and slightly prooflike fields. Comments: a common alternate spelling is "Maria Theresa". I use "Theresia" with an "i" because that's the way it is spelled on the coins. Some specialists can roughly date these restrikes and attribute them by mint and variety, based on small details on the coins. I am not one of those people. Here is a page that might be of interest, however. Additional images: 001600R
Awesome post. I was just looking at these a few days ago and doing some research on them. I've got a follow up image to post, but I need to dig out the "coin." Be back a bit later. Z
It's just a hunk of bullion, but as hunks of bullion go, it's quite attractive, and more appealing to me than oh, say, an American Silver Eagle would be, for example. It is also in my giveaway pick bin, so if you like, enter the giveaway (there's a link in my signature line) if you would like a chance to win this or one of the other prizes. The random drawing for the current giveaway (#42) will be held next month- sometime in early September 2020.
There is a site explaining about variants to this coin. http://www.theresia.name/en/svariants.html I found there the classification of my coin. http://www.theresia.name/cgi-bin/Token.cgi?Item=H49a
I like these too and agree it is more fun than the generic chunk of bullion. Here are a few I have (these weren't quite bullion buys though). Now I just need an Anacs toned example to round out my TPG set of these.
I'm back . . . . The reason for my interest in these restrikes was to get more educated on something i bought in my somewhat ignorant* youth. (* the term "somewhat ignorant" is highly understated) Back around the year 2000, when gold prices were in the dumper, I purchased something that I had zero knowledge of. When it arrived, I thought I had made a really poor purchase, took this thing, and threw it in a book of oddities. I hadn't totally forgotten about it, but thinking I made a dumb purchase, I also really haven't discussed it until now. Now that I have gotten it out to see the light of day, I present to you my "ignorant purchase" 1915 dated Austrian 4 Ducat Gold restrike. I am trying to get more information on it's composition. I see that Apmex has them listed on their website as an "Out Of Stock" item, but there isn't much more information that I can glean from them. Does anyone know the specifics of the gold content in one of these? My memory from 20 years ago is poor. I think I remember the seller (I forget where I even got this, possibly eBay) stating that is was 23K gold or somthing similar, but I'm having difficulty finding documentation of this one. Morgan Dollar adjacent the last two photos for size comparison. This thing barely fits into a 2x2 cardboard flip. Anyway, on to the pictures . . . . . . Your thoughts? Z
@ZoidMeister these are gold restrikes from Austria Here is the NGC page https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide...2276-1872-1915-1936-cuid-1044847-duid-1220389 And another one with some info http://www.cruzis-coins.com/Gold/19154.html The gold content is .4427 oz and the melt value is around $860 as of this posting (and they tend to trade close to spot....usually not much numismatic value)
Well dang, you (I) learn something every day. I figured these were some kind of Danbury or Franklin Mint creations. I guess I did good paying $110 for this back in the day. If only it had been Microsoft . . . . . . . and ten times that amount. Z
The history behind this "coin" is very interesting. Several nations used the re-strikes in the Middle East and Northern Africa, mostly, pay businesses, governments, tribal leaders, etc. through the 1960's or so.
I have a few of these thalers, but my first helped lead me to collecting. It was in a bag of world coins my dad brought home from WW II, all from the Middle East. It is still one of the most beautiful coins around, and 74 years later it is still there reminding me of him.
You did well. I bought one of those in the late 1990s myself. I knew I was buying a restrike, but it was pretty. Very prooflike, and very large diameter for its bullion content (they're rather thin, as you know). The 4-ducats are good jewelry pieces because they have that big-gold "bling" factor without messing up a historical piece if you do mount it in a pendant or something. They're not old, but they are official Austrian government-issued coins, struck to the same standards as the earlier historical pieces. And they're nice. And you bought in at a very opportune time, so you're "golden" on that investment, if you'll pardon the pun. I wish I had kept mine. I sold it before bullion prices rose.