Just ordered these two from a shop in Germany... If anyone has a favorite dealer for German stuff I'd love to know. Pre-1846 Nassau stuff is my main interest for German coins, but seems hard to find (except the standard 19th century Kreuzers).
Brian,the current branch of the Dutch Royal Family are descended from this house,which is correctly the House of Orange-Nassau. Aidan.
The genealogy of the House of Nassau is a bit more complicated. The second count of Nassau, Henry the Rich (ca.1180-ca.1250) had 3 sons, Walram, Jan and Otto. Jan became bishop of Utrecht, while the other sons divided the county in 1255. This makes there are 2 lines in the House of Nassau. The House of Orange-Nassau is of the Ottonian line, whereas the counts (and later dukes) of Nassau are descendants of the Walramian line. They are kind of cousins. This makes that the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau didn't rule the duchy of Nassau at the time your coins were issued. On the other hand, when Wilhelmina of Orange-Nassau couldn't ascend the throne as grand-duchess of Luxemburg, due to the Salic Law which was still in rule there, the Heads of the 2 Nassau-branches agreed that a member of the other line should take her place. That's when Adolphe of Nassau, the last duke of Nassau became grand-duke of Luxemburg. Grand-duke Henry is a descensant of Adolphe. It is in fact not the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau, but the House of Luxemburg-Nassau you should refer to. By the way: nice coins, indeed. I really like those! bart
Bart,isn't the Luxembourgish Grand Duke descended from the House of Nassau-Weilburg? I know that Grand Duke Adolphe issued coins when he was Grand Duke Adolph of Nassau (1839-66) & during his short reign as Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg (1890-1905). Here's an article; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_of_Luxembourg . Aidan.
That's true, Aidan. The House of Nassau-Weilburg is of the Walramian line of the Nassau-family. As you can read in the article you mention, at the moment it is in fact called the House of Bourbon-Parma, as those descendancies are counted by the male descendancy-line and grand-duchess Charlotte was the last of the 'real' (say male) Nassau-line. bart
These coins are those of William V (Batavus) who ruled the territory of Nassau-Orange (he was also the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic). Nassau-Orange was previously known as Nassau-Dietz and by the time of these coins also encompassed what was Nassau-Dillenburg among others. This was a separate territory from the parts of Nassau (Nassau-Usingen & Nassau-Weilburg) that would a few years later (1806) become the Dutchy of Nassau & join the Confederation of the Rhein and fight for Napoleon. Nassau-Orange became part of Berg during the Napoleonic wars & most of Nassau-Orange was given to Prussia after the Congress of Vienna, although some parts (including Dillenburg, which is my primary interest) were added to the Duchy of Nassau. It's much more complicated than that, but at the time of these coins there was a place called Nassau-Orange & it was ruled by William V (or as the dealer in Germany calls it Nassau-Diez-Oranien).
@Brian, you're right. I didn't think of Nassau-Dietz, which was a possession of the Orange-Nassaus. William V Batavus was the father of the first king of the Netherlands, William I. Bart
Thanks for all your info Bart. The houses of Nassau are quite a mess to untangle. My family came to the US from Dillenburg so I've done quite a bit of research on it, but often get myself confused. I'd love to find more coins from the area, but they seem kind of scarce. All the Thaler's I find from the Duchy of Nassau (from say 1815-1845) are very expensive.
