A few of the minors. Seems like these usually turn-up in nice condition. I wonder if any of them actually circulated. Somewhat similar to Vatican coins from the same era, usually real nice looking.
Great design. You can tell he's a saint by the way he's holding his head. One of the fascinating things about Italian frescoes in Tuscany, was the proclivity to depict the unfortunate dead who were headed to hell, as holding their own head on a silver platter. Ouch! Sometimes they would be talking to the dude next to him, also holding his own head on a silver platter.
I actually know where that is, we passed right by it on our way to Friedrichshafen a couple years ago.
It's an attractive old walled town but very small. I guess it was more important in the 16th century.
Coins of another obscure town, not in great condition (I am afraid we have come a long way down from the artistic glory of the Lubeck 1/4 Ducat with which @panzerman started this thread but variety is the spice of life) The town of Herford, in Westphalia, grew up around a Benedictine nunnery founded about 832. In time it became a member of the Hanseatic League and almost a coequal of the abbey. They struck coinage jointly in the mid 16th century. From about 1580 until 1670 the town struck local issues of its own. In 1631, during the 30 Years' War, it became a free Imperial city but lost that dignity in 1647. It would become part of Prussia in 1803.(Craig) The population today is 66,000. Germany HERFORD Joint Issue of Margareta von Lippe, Abbess of Herford, and the Town of Herford Mariengroschen n.d. (1565-78) (obv. legend MO.NO.ABBATIS. ET. CIV. HERV ) Germany Town of HERFORD Copper 6 Pfennig 1670
@panzerman started this thread with a beautiful 1728 1/4 Ducat of the city of Lübeck. Here are four humbler coins from the same city in less good condition. LUBECK 1/4 Mark 1506 This is a Wendish Monetary Union issue. The Hanseatic League cities of Lubeck, Hamburg, Luneburg & Wismar created the Wendish Monetary Union (Wendische Münzverein) in 1379. Under agreements made in 1502 and 1504, the first large silver coin was struck, the Mark (=16 Schilling or 192 Pfennig), on the basis of 13 Marks=1 Cologne mark of fine silver. On the obverse are the coats of arms of Hamburg (city walls and nettle leaf), Lüneburg (city wall and lion) and Wismar (half bull's head and barry of 4), with in the centre a not so visible small shield with the Lübeck arms (divisions per fesse). LUBECK 8 Schilling (1/4 Taler) 1549 featuring St. John the Baptist on the reverse LUBECK 16 Schilling (Half Taler) 1546 featuring St. John the Baptist on reverse LUBECK 8 Schilling (1/4 Taler) 1646 under Emperor Ferdinand III with a different St. John the Baptist on the obverse
Beautifull coins @talerman Many thanks for sharing your treasures with us The German States/ Swiss Kantons produced outstanding examples of Baroque artistry.
Germany City of LUNEBURG 1/4 Taler 1547 LUNEBURG Emperor Maximilian II Reichstaler (32 Schilling) 1572
Germany City of MAGDEBURG Emperor Ferdinand II 1/2 Reichstaler (12 Groschen) 1623 Magd in German is maiden. The arms on the obverse show a maiden over the city gates.
Here’s a couple from Munster 1753 3 Pfennig 1762 6 Pfennig Kind of sad that many of these German States coins can be so interesting and so old but not have much of a market.
Germany MARSBERG Emperor Rudolf II 1/24 Taler (Groschen) 1606 Marsberg owed allegiance to the abbots of Corvey and to their spiritual overlords, the archbishops of Cologne. The town struck some local coinage like this one in the first third of the 17th century. The shields on the obverse include the arms of the archbishops of Cologne (cross) as well as Marsberg (A). It is a mystery why Marsberg has A as its coat of arms. It has been suggested that a Christian mission in the 8th century started trying to convert the Saxons there and the stylised A refers to "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End" (Revelations 22,13).