| Spink > Auction 23129 | Auction date: 26 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 10104 Price realized: Unsold | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: (g) Germany, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Karl II, under the Prince Regent of Great Britain (1815-1823), Anglo-Hanoverian Issues, Gold 2½-Thaler, 1816-FR, Brunswick, under Friedrich Ritter, GEORGIVS D. G. PRINC REGENS, garlanded Arms, titles of the Prince Regent, rev. * TVTOR • NOM • CAROLI • DUCIS • BR • ET • LV • * 2½ * THALER * 1816 * in three lines flanked by flowers, F.R. below, edge obliquely milled, 3.31g [51.0grns], 12h (Divo-Schramm 53; Fb. 734; Jaeger 307a; KM 1072; Schlum. 184; Welter 2954), light handling marks in otherwise residually brilliant fields, good very fine, very rare, and the earliest coinage struck under the Protectorship of the Prince Regent and future King George IV. Karl II was born in Brunswick, the eldest son of Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Oels, better known to history as 'The Black Duke'. In April 1808, his mother, Princess Marie of Baden (1782–1808), died shortly after giving birth to a stillborn daughter when he was only three years old. Karl and his younger brother Willhelm went to live with their maternal grandmother Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt in Glückstadt. Their father was absent, raising a volunteer corps, dubbed the "Black Brunswickers", to fight with the Austrians against Bonaparte., , In Autumn 1809, the Duke conducted a remarkable fighting march across Germany and escaped to Britain with his troops. Upon his arrival in London, he sent for his sons who were now living with their paternal grandmother, Princess Augusta at Blackheath. The young Princes were treated as celebrities in London, with Wilhelm being given the honour of laying a foundation stone for Vauxhall Bridge in 1814. His father would famously succumb to a gunshot wound on the field at Quatre-Bras on 16 June 1815, leaving Karl to inherit the Duchy as a juvenile. He was put under the guardianship of George, the Prince Regent until he achieved his majority. A dispute arose in 1822 when Karl reached his 18th year, whilst King George IV considered it necessary to wait until he was 21. In the end, a compromise ensured Karl II ascended to the Duchy on 30 October 1823. He became an extraordinary eccentric who was eventually ousted in 1830, only to live in luxurious exile in Paris. Here he met and helped to bankroll fellow exile Prince Louis-Napoleon (the future Napoleon III). , Estimate: £800 - £1200 |  |
