I recently saw a gold "Hansegulden" for auction. Apparently there are different varieties of this coin, in gold or silver, with some variant designs. I like the design! This seems to be a modern "coin" (or medal) apparently of German origin, but there seems to be little info about the issuer. Does anybody know more? The gold coin was 3.1 g of pure gold (999.9) and 20 mm diameter, and it sold for 100 Euros flat, i.e. about bullion value.
Don't know much about those medals, but they have been around for a while. Here is a silver piece from 1976 for example. The "ship side" and the "denomination" are about the same ... Christian
Gulden is the name of an old currency, I don't think you need to translate it, the 'Hanseatic league' was a confederation of merchants. I don't think the medals are linked to that.
Yes, the Hansa is the Hanseatic League of merchants from northern European ports, and a Gulden was a common unit of currency in Northern Germany, the Netherlands and other places traditionally worth about 2/3 of a Thaler. It remained the Dutch currency up to the introduction of the Euro. Certainly these medals do recall the glory days of the Hansa (12th - 14th Century) with a Hansa "Kogge" merchant ship on one side. I just haven't been able to find out who struck them.
Here is a similar one, but instead of the compass rose it shows five animals (an eagle, two lions and two griffins, I think). Not fine gold like yours but 986. Another one is here for example. By the way, you just missed the annual Hanseatic Day. The Hanse was "revived" so to say in the early 1980s, mostly to promote tourism and international cooperation of the participating cities. The 2014 Hanseatic Day was in Lübeck last weekend, see here. However, the Hansegulden medals are (originally) a little older than 1980, I think ... Christian