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Germany City of MAGDEBURG Uniface 1 Gulden Siege Klippe 1551

The city of Magdeburg accepted the Reformation in 1524 and joined the Protestant Schmalkaldic League in 1531. After the Protestants lost the Schmalkaldic War (1546-1547) against the Catholic forces led by the Emperor, it refused to accept the 1548 Augsburg Interim decree. This decree ordered Protestants to readopt traditional Catholic beliefs and practices, including the seven Sacraments, although it allowed for Protestant clergymen the right to marry and for the laity to receive communion in both kinds (bread and wine). Magdeburg was then put under the Imperial ban and Duke Maurice of Saxony was charged with leading an expedition against the city; the siege began in 1550. Dukes Albrecht of Prussia and Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg sent troops to relieve the city but they were dispersed by Maurice. The city surrendered on favourable terms on 4 November 1551 after 414 days

 

Wow, what a story and coin. I’m so very happy I started this thread and am grateful for all of the participants.

 

Pleased you like it. I am also enjoying the thread, including all the Notgeld.

 

1 Not Goldmark from Bielefeld 1923

 

Dutch East Indies colonial 2 stuiver copper "bonk," 1810. The French conquest of the Netherlands had blocked the flow of coins to the colony. I read these were hacked into rectangular pieces from Japanese copper bars.

 

Very cool!

 

With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of Vichy France until the British and Free French occupied the country in the Syria-Lebanon campaign in July 1941. Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalists and the British forced the French to evacuate their troops in April 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had been formed during the mandate. This coin was made in 1941 in Syria while the British and Free French we’re fighting Vichy France for the country.

 

Germany City of MAGDEBURG Siege Groschen 1629

The reverse inscription reads NECESSI:CARET. LEGE (necessity is without law), presumably referring to the fact that the coin is underweight (only 0.99 g).

Protestant Magdeburg's siege problems were not over after 1551. During the Thirty Years' War , Emperor Ferdinand II issued the so-called Restitutionsedikt on March 6, 1629 under which the archbishopric of Magdeburg (and other bishoprics) were to be returned to the Catholics . The city resisted and failed to pay a levy of 150,000 talers . The Catholic general Wallenstein laid siege but his armies withdrew after about 6 months due partly to sickness and bad weather, In 1630 Swedish soldiers arrived to support Magdeburg. However, in March 1631 Magdeburg was besieged again by imperial troops and sacked in May.

 

How much was that and where did you get it?

 

I got it on a trip to the Netherlands a few weeks ago. I decided to stop by a coin shop to check what things they have that I haven't seen at home. It was less than 100 Euros, but not much. They had a very wide selection of Dutch colonial coins and various regional issues. Prices seemed a bit high, but a lot of stuff I've never seen in the US or were in better condition, so it's hard to compare.

 

During the English Civil War (1642-1646), in the absence of sufficient quantities of current legal tender, the Royalist forces were funded by three main sources; plate or money donated by supporters of the King, plate or money taken from the supporters of Parliament, or levies on the local population to pay for the defence of a town and upkeep of the defending force. There was also a supply of Welsh silver from the mines near Aberystwyth, leased and operated by Thomas Bushell, who prior to the war operated a mint at Aberystwyth, but on the outbreak of hostilities moved operations to Shrewsbury, then Oxford before finally moving to Bristol in 1643.

Attested mints striking Royalist locations are York, Newark, Truro, Exeter, Shrewsbury, Oxford, Carlisle, Bristol, Chester and Hereford. Unattested locations are Worcester (W), Shrewsbury (SA), 'Welsh Marches', Scarborough, Hartlebury Castle (HC), 'CH', 'A' and 'B', with possibly a couple other places.

Denominations from a penny through to 3 pounds were struck at various locations, with the bulk being shillings and halfcrowns, the daily rate for a foot soldier and cavalryman respectively. Production would normally occur when a large body of soldiers appeared at a mint location and a supply of plate was to hand (not guaranteed).

A selection of denominations follows.

A halfgroat (2 pence), probably struck at Worcester in the winter of 1644.


A groat (4 pence), currently attributed to the 'B' mint. Given the number of dies known for this group, I believe it is unlikely this mint is Bridgnorth as the last standing field army of around a thousand men left on 12th March 1645 (OS) for Worcester. This left only a small garrison of 120 in 1646, or approximately one die for every 4 men if the location is to be accepted and is the sole location!


A sixpence with a 'Tower' mark, probably struck at Worcester or nearby in the summer of 1644. A bit messy, but only two known.


A shilling of York. This mint operated from the end of January 1642/3 for about a year. The mint signature EBOR on the reverse is an abbreviation of the old Roman name, Eboracum


A 1644 halfcrown of Bristol. The reverse mark at 12 o'clock is a BR monogram. This coin has a high copper content and presumably came from the metal at the bottom of the pot.


Finally, a 1645/4 Exeter crown, with the EX reverse mark. Besly dies D17.

 

I am so grateful you guys have taken the time to tell these amazing stories. This is so fascinating!!

 

Fascinating group of coins. I am particularly jealous of your Worcester issues. I am very interested in your persuasive comments on B for Bridgnorth. I have a 1646 Sixpence (S. 3041) with the B mm and had not thought to doubt the Spink attribution, even though I know they used to be called "Late Declaration Issues of uncertain mint".

I posted a Newark 30 pence on this thread a while ago. Let me add one more Civil war coin:

ENGLAND Charles I Sixpence 1643 Oxford

 

The point about the 'B' mint is that they are dated 1646. At the turn of the year, most Royalist garrisons were on the point of surrendering and in any case did not have sufficient troops to warrant the large number of dies and denominations seen. Exeter and Oxford had attested mints and readily identifiable marks, but Exeter only held out until 13th April, i.e. 3 weeks into the new year and Oxford issues were marked OX. This begs the question as to other possible locations. Worcester was intact until July, but there is reasonable circumstantial evidence to suggest the lis marked coins were from here.

'B' was attributed by Boon to Bridgnorth, while 'A' was given to Ashby de la Zouch, with the Bristol dies smuggled out with the troops following the latter's surrender in September 1645 when they marched first to Oxford and immediately on to Ashby. They were then smuggled out of Ashby in Jan/Feb 1645/6 once they had slighted the castle and were permitted to march to Bridgnorth, but the castle surrendered in the previous November. This idea was postulated to account for the die links between Bristol, 'A' and 'B', with A over BR and B over A overmarks known. However, Boon himself documented the evidence of coining taking place at the Talybont Mills, north of Aberystwyth, in March 1645. This would make a lot more sense as the 'A' mint. The objection that Bushell was holed up on Lundy and unable to communicate with the mainland is not the same as saying he was under siege on Lundy. It would only take a day to reach Aberystwyth by boat, so communication would not be impossible. The amount of possessions the defeated troops were allowed to take with them was also strictly controlled, being laid down in the surrender articles. This would suggest the possessions of the departing troops were checked when leaving.

Following the fall of Aberystwyth on 14th April 1646, some troops marched to Denbigh and others to Caernarvon. Denbigh, then Bangor, Caernarvon and Beaumaris was also the route taken by the Chester garrison following the city's surrender in February 1645/6, so there was a reasonable accumulation of Royalist forces in NW Wales in 1646, and more importantly, they didn't surrender until July-ish (sorry, don't have date to hand). The only other large concentration of active Royalist forces I can identify in the west in 1646 is at Raglan near Abergavenny, where a garrison of around 800 was active until mid-summer. Again, not too far from Lundy.

All of this means I think that B is somewhere in Wales. Whilst it might be convenient to say that B is Beaumaris on Anglesey, contemporary diary entries show Abergavenny was also known as Bergavenny, with the resultant possibility of it being 'B'. Basically, nobody knows.

And as this is a coin forum and not a history forum, here are a few more Civil War pieces (not necessarily all mine) from locations not already posted.

'A' mint shilling.


Chester halfcrown with the prostrate gerb mark.


HC halfcrown. I'm not totally convinced about Hartlebury, but certain it wasn't struck during the siege of 1646, because the 'siege' only lasted one day - the Bishop's Palace being a moated house and impossible to defend.


'Welsh Marches' halfcrown. No positive documented attribution of the type, but I'm inclined to think these were the coins mentioned by Besly as those struck by Rude the Coyner at Hereford in October 1644 because this coincides with the recent arrival of Gerard and his 3000 troops from the West Wales campaign. They subsequently spent the winter billeted around Hereford and Monmouth.


And finally, it's definitely dire, but is it Truro as currently listed? A halfcrown with the 'bugle' mark.

 

Thank you for all this very helpful information. I thought the mint attributions in the more recent SCBCs were based on new solid information but it sounds like many are still guess work.

 

Spanish Netherlands OUDENAARDE (Audenarde) Tin 10 Stuiver Uniface Siege Klippe 1582

Coin of the 80 Years' War, the Dutch struggle to obtain independence from Spain.

Philip II appointed Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, Landvoogd (governor) of the Netherlands on the death of Don Juan of Austria in 1578. Besides being relatively tolerant to Calvinists, Farnese was a competent military leader and conquered several rebellious cities such as Bruges , Brussels , Ghent , Oudenaarde and Antwerp. The siege of Oudenaarde (incidentally, the birthplace of Parma's mother, Marguerite of Parma) lasted from 19 April to 5 July 1582.

 

Really cool, how much does something like that go for?

 

I have emergency issue coins from WWI/WWII from well over 600 different cities/locations, so trying to post them here would be futile :>)