Coins And History

@coin_nut Thank you very much for your addition, can't wait to pick it up from the post office!

 

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AV Dukat 1529 Klippe (Seige Emergency Issue)
Ferdinand I of Habsburg
Holy Roman Empire
In 1526 The Ottoman Army under Sulieman I obliterated the Hungarians at Mohacs/ Lajos II was killed. In the aftermath Ferdinand I the brother of HRE Karl V claimed the vacant Hungarian throne. However, Sulieman had Janos Zapolya I a Transylvanian Prince in mind for the job. In meantime Ferdinand made himself King of Hungary. The Sultan to teach him a lesson, prepared for an invasion on Western Hungary/ then Vienna. Due to heavy rains/ flooding, the Ottomans could not bring up their heavy seige guns. By August they began their attack on Vienna. Bombarding the walls with medium cannon, also mining underneath the walls. All where unsuccessfull, by November the Turks where almost inside the city, but early heavy snowstorms hampered them. Finally, Sulieman called it off, anticipating a renewed attempt next year. It never happened due to other campaigns. In retrospect probably a big mistake.
This coin was struck during that time.

 

I also like to know how much a coin could purchase when it was minted. I found a calculator that provides information for some countries: https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1857?amount=1

 

I would say they are way off.....
Even in 1971 you could buy a can of coke/ caramilk bar for 10 cents/ today its close to $3
In 1932 a skilled carpenter made 25 cents an hr./ today $60 or more.
I would say it takes 100 2020 Dollars for same buying power as a 1857 Gold Dollar.

 

Very nice crown of William III. Unless there is a problem with the surfaces I'm guessing at least a VF-EF grade. However, I've not a lot of experience in English crowns of this era. Crowns were not a super common denomination at the time. For the next 120 years there were almost no crowns made. There were a few issues on Queen Anne and I think Geo II made some around 1746 which are quite scarce. Thus I'd expect this coin to be predominately in the much lower grade range.

 

Thank you! I'd say it's VF , if it's above, i'm not sure as this is also not my normal 'playground' in numismatics, but it's very common in low grades!I find it funny when you compare it with a 1694 filippo of Milan, such a big difference in appeal and strike!

 

I remember when the price of a small bottle of coke was raised from 5 cents to 6 cents. At the time I thought, "wow, that is dumb. What good is an extra penny going to do?" I guess I did not understand what a 20% increase was. I checked online just now and see that was in 1959. That was back when there was penny candy and a dollar a week was a pretty good allowance. We had cap guns and BB guns and candy cigarettes. I was big into CRH Lincoln cents back then. I sometimes wonder what a silver denarius could buy 2000 years ago.

 

SAME WAR, a bit earlier

United Provinces/ Holland Holland lion c/m on 1572 City of Cologne 1/2 Taler. The lion in circle c/m is at 3 o'clock on obv.

In 1573 the Holland rebels countermarked silver coins to increase their value by 1/8 to pay their troops fighting the Spaniards.

 

Beautiful coin, @panzerman — the shape is unique. You’ve inspired me to post my square Indo-Scythians.

 

The Knights of St-John Hospitaliers fought in the Crusades alongside the Templars/ Teutonic Knights. These where the Pope's elite formations fighting to free the "Holy Land" from Muslim Rule. It went bad after the loss of Jerusalem/ Acre to the Ayyubids. The one Order (Knights of St. John) escaped from Acre, settled on Cyprus. Eventually fed up with Cypriot politics, conquered the Island of Rhodes. There they built a fortress and made it their new headquarters. In 1521, Sulieman I/ Ottoman Sultan attacked Rhodes, after a bitter seige, the Grandmaster surrendered. Sulieman allowed the Knights to leave the island with all their possessions/ wounded. Karl V the HRE then gave the Order the Island of Malta as their new home. In 1798, First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on Malta to ask the GrandMaster permission to bring his fleet into Valetta harbour to refit/ resupply. The Grand Master refused, and with Admiral Nelsons fleet closing in, Napoleon after a fierce battle, took the Island. Thus ended the Order's Rule on Malta. Czar Paul I of Russia allowed them to take refuge in St. Petersburg in 1801.

 

Very nice gold 20 scudi of 1778. My old Krause mentions that these were 16.00 grams and 84% gold. They also made silver crowns around the same time. After the French took and occupied the island they [the French] apparently used cut down gold & silver coins as seige pieces.

Looking briefly I see no attempt to make this piece equivalent to the other gold coins of the various Italian Kingdoms nearby. An interesting piece to be sure...

 

Juan de Homedes was born in Aragon around 1477. He eventually joined the Order of Saint John on Rhodes, and fought bravely in the 1522 Ottoman siege. He eventually moved to the island of Malta along with the rest of the Order in 1530 and was elected Grand Master in 1536. After a period of relative quiet, the Ottomans attempted to take Malta in July 1551,but were deterred and so they attacked the sister island of Gozo, which capitulated after some days of fierce fighting. Nearly the entire population of the island were taken as slaves, including the governor Gelatian de Sessa and other knights. In August of that year, the Order suffered another blow when it lost its North African stronghold of Tripoli to an Ottoman force commanded by the famous corsair leader Dragut and the admiral Sinan. De Homedes blamed the loss on the military governor of Tripoli, Gaspard de Vallier, and had him defrocked and imprisoned. De Vallier was later rehabilitated by Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette.

After the events of 1551, de Homedes began a program to fortify Malta better. The first stone for a new fort, Fort Saint Michael, was laid down on 8 May 1552 on l'Isola, a peninsula adjacent to the Order's capital at Birgu. Meanwhile Fort St. Elmo began to be built on the Sciberras peninsula, a much larger peninsula facing both Birgu and Isola (on which the city of Valletta was later built). De Homedes died on 6 September 1553 (Wikipedia).

MALTA Knights of St.John Juan de Homedes Tari 1539

 

Meanwhile, further north religious conflicts between the new Protestant movements and Catholics were in full swing in Germany. In 1534 one radical sect, the Anabaptists took over the city of Münster, then under the Prince-Bishop of Münster

In the early 1530s a group of Anabaptists had gained considerable influence, through the adhesion of Bernhard Rothmann, the Lutheran pastor, and several prominent citizens; and the leaders, Jan Matthys (also spelled Matthijs, Mathijsz, Matthyssen, Mathyszoon), a baker from Haarlem, and Jan Bockelson (or Beukelszoon), a tailor from Leiden. Bernhard Rothmann was a tireless and vitriolic opponent of Catholicism and a writer of pamphlets that were published by his ally and wealthy wool merchant Bernhard Knipperdolling. The pamphlets at first denounced Catholicism from a radical Lutheran perspective, but soon started to proclaim that the Bible called for the absolute equality of man in all matters including the distribution of wealth. The pamphlets, which were distributed throughout northern Germany, successfully called upon the poor of the region to join the citizens of Münster to share the wealth of the town and benefit spiritually from being the elect of Heaven.

With so many adherents in the town, at the elections for the magistracy, Rothmann and his allies had little difficulty in obtaining possession of the town, seizing the city hall and placing Bernhard Knipperdolling as the mayor in February 1534, after deposing the mainly Lutheran magistrates, who, until then, had seen him as an ally in their own distrust of, and dislike for, Catholics. Matthys was a follower of Melchior Hoffman, who, after Hoffman's imprisonment at Strasbourg, obtained a considerable following in the Low Countries, including Bockelson, who became known as John of Leiden. John of Leiden and Gerrit Boekbinder had visited Münster, and returned with a report that Bernhard Rothmann was there teaching doctrines similar to their own. Matthys identified Münster as the "New Jerusalem", and on January 5, 1534, a number of his disciples entered the city and introduced adult baptism. Rothmann apparently accepted "rebaptism" that day, and well over 1000 adults were soon baptised. Vigorous preparations were made, not only to hold what had been gained, but to spread their beliefs to other areas. The many Lutherans who left were outnumbered by the arriving Anabaptists, there was an orgy of iconoclasm in cathedrals and monasteries, and rebaptism became compulsory. The property of the emigrants was shared out with the poor and soon a proclamation was issued that all property was to be held in common.

The city was then besieged by Franz von Waldeck, its expelled bishop. In April 1534 on Easter Sunday, Matthys, who had prophesied God's judgment to come on the wicked on that day, made a sally forth with only twelve followers, believing that he was a second Gideon, and was cut off with his entire band. He was killed, his head severed and placed on a pole for all in the city to see, and his genitals nailed to the city gate.

The 25-year-old John of Leiden was subsequently recognized as Matthys' religious and political successor, justifying his authority and actions by the receipt of visions from heaven. His authority grew, eventually proclaiming himself to be the successor of David and adopting royal regalia, honors and absolute power in the new "Zion". There were at least three times as many women of marriageable age as men now in the town and he made polygamy compulsory and himself took sixteen wives. (John is said to have beheaded Elisabeth Wandscherer in the marketplace for refusing to marry him; this act might have been falsely attributed to him after his death.) Meanwhile, most of the residents of Münster were starving as a result of the year-long siege.

After lengthy resistance, the city was taken by the besiegers on June 24, 1535 and John of Leiden and several other prominent Anabaptist leaders were captured and imprisoned. In January 1536 John of Leiden, Bernhard Knipperdolling and one more prominent follower, Bernhard Krechting, were tortured and executed in the marketplace of Münster. Their bodies were exhibited in cages, which hung from the steeple of St. Lambert's Church. The bones were removed later, but the cages hang there still. (Wikipedia).



Historical drawing of the execution of the leaders of the rebellion. In the background the cages are already in place at the old steeple of St. Lambert's church


The Anabaptists struck coins during their brief rule (1534-35). They favoured phrases from the Bible over portraits or coats of arms. Here is a 2 Taler struck in 1534.

Obv.: WE.NICHT.GEBORE.IS.VTH.DE.WAT.VN.GEIS'.MAC.NICH (he who has not been baptised will not be saved).* In circle */DAT.WOR./T.IS.FLEISCH/GE.WORDEN*/.VN.VANET*/.IN*VNS*/**/* (the word has become flesh and lives within us)
Rev. IN.GAEN.INT.RIKE.GADES.EIN.KININCK.VPREG.OV'AL (God's empire with one king stands above all) crossed swords Inner legend: EIN.GODT.EIN.GELOVE.EIN.DOEPE* (one God,one faith,one baptism) In circle in centre: 1554 over shield with THO/MVNS/TER

 

Wow, very impressive & a double thaler too? Do you own this coin? Would it be possible to get a weight? I imagine it'd weight around 60 grams.

On a personal note, when I was very young (in college) I became caught up in an extreme christian splinter group movement. I recall one of the leaders of the movement telling me that they had a precursor in certain Anabaptist sects. Certainly the motto "who has not been baptised will not be saved" was a big part of their teachings as often even members of other 'christian' splinter groups would have to get rebaptised. While they took christian teaching literally, they also became very dictatorial and heirarchial. A lot of what you described from the 1530's is also characteristic of their behaviors today.

Any provenance or further info on these coins would be greatly appreciated.

 

51.52 g. It is slightly underweight for a 2 Taler and is sometimes called a 1 3/4 Taler. 47 mm diameter.

They never struck minors, just 2 slightly different Talers, a 1 1/2 Taler and this 2 Taler. This coin is considered to be original but most coins which appear in the market are later restrikes, some by the goldsmith J. Potthoff (†1607) with a small P on the reverse, some by the Münster mintmaster Engelbert Ketteler in the 1640's with a small K on the reverse but others unsigned. Some may have been struck as souvenirs for delegates to the Peace Conference in Münster in 1648 leading up to the Treaties of Westphalia ending the 30 Years' War. Restrikes include a 54.38 g 2 Taler, a 44 g 1 1/2 Taler and a 16.48 g Half Taler as well as numerous Talers.

 

All I can say, one heck of a beautifull Doppelthaler/ great history behind the coin.....

 

Here's a rather lengthy article of mine on South Korea's first (real) commemorative coin, and the country's very first completely locally produced coin, ever.

This article might also help you understand how a population of people that commonly suffered from starvation and tapeworm infections in the 1970s now produce most of the appliances in your house, the smartphone in your hand, and the car in your garage.

http://dokdo-research.com/Standardx.html

 

AV Fiorini di camera ND
Alessandro VI 1492-1503
Papal States
Roma Mint

Rodrigo Borgia was elected Pope in 1492. He got the nickname, "the Spanish Bull"
He had 5 children, Lucretia, Caesare, Giovanni, Gioffre/ Luigi

During his election, there was a lot of bribery. Charles VIII of France threw in 200,000 Dukats to support the French candidate, while Genoa gave 100,000 Dukats for a Genoese Cardinal. In the end Borgias came up with more gold Dukats.
During his reign, he had to put up with a true pain in the butt, Savanarola. This guy was dangerous to the Church and her teaching. In the end he met his fate by getting burnt on the stake. Alexander had many mistresses, sometimes two at a time. This created some problems for his domestic life. Of course there was a TV series made about him, which made him look bad. But actual history maybe different.

 

Well, now, why in the heck would a Pope's bribery, kids, and many mistresses be the subject of a TV series??

It's not like any of THAT should be the subject of sensation! Hey man, nothing to see here!

Those TV producers just can't leave a person alone, can they?