A significant development in European coinage - The Prague Groschen

Prague Groschen of Wenceslaus II - King of Bohemia (Modern day Czech Republic). Circa 1300 AD. In extraordinary condition for type.

Due to a new found wealth of the silver from Kutna Hora, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia invited the Italian lawyer Gozzius of Orvieto to set up a Royal mint there as part of his coinage reform. Unlike earlier circulating coins such as the pennies and deniers, they were significantly heavier at approximately 3.8g. The mines of Kutna Hora was significant as they supplied almost a third of all silver to medieval Europe prior to the discovery of the rich silver deposits of the new world by Cortes and the exhaustion of the Kutna Hora mines. Due to their silver finesse and weight, they became immensely popular during the Middle Ages and continued to be minted by successive Bohemian Kings. It will be centuries later before their prominence were subsequently succeeded by latter silver coinage of significance such as the Thalers and Spanish Reales..



The following photographs were taken from St Barbara's Cathedral during a tour of Europe back in 2015. The old murals depict images of the coin minting process back in the times of the Kutna Hora preeminence as the central mint of Bohemia.

 

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Love the murals.

 

Thanks.. they were well preserved for hundreds of years.. the architecture itself was amazing.. a very gothic feel

 

Love the murals too, nice stuff.

 

Thanks

 

interesting and nice lookin' coin! those murals are cool, i don't remember seeing those before.

 

What a cool thread !!

Love the coin and the murals!

 

Thanks.. Should pay a visit to Prague.. Kutna Hora is only an hour away.. it is worth a detour..

 

Thank you for sharing this information!

 

Welcome..