| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 162 | Auction date: 6 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 1169 Price realized: 16,000 CHF (Approx. 19,724 USD / 17,183 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Germany Friedrich II, 1760-1785 2 Friedrichs d'or (10 Taler or 2 Pistols) 1780, Kassel mint, mint master Johann Balhasar Reinhard, AV 13.3 g. Bust right. Rev. Star of the Order (Hessian House Order of the Golden Lion), between the date 17-80 below, the initials B - R of the mint master. F. 1282; Schütz 1969; Müller 2703; Schön C135. Extremely rare in this condition. Minor adjustment marks, otherwise Fdc NGC MS 65 (2175209-011) Purchased from Fernando Procaccia, Roma, 9.1.1932. Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel was one of the richest princes in Europe. His wealth was partly due to the hiring out of more than 20,000 soldiers to the King of Great Britain, who deployed them in the American War of Independence. The corresponding silver coins bearing the Order Star are therefore also known in America as blood dollars. Our coin type, minted since 1775, could be described analogously as a double blood pistol. Estimate: 7500 CHF |  |
Match 1:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 162 | Auction date: 6 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 1101 Price realized: 3,750 CHF (Approx. 4,623 USD / 4,027 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Germany Friedrich Wilhelm I, 1713-1740 Wilhelm d'or (10 Talers) 1738, Berlin mint, mint master Ernst Georg Neubauer, AV 13.41 g. Armoured bust with ribbon of an order right. Rev. Four mirrored monograms surmounted by crowns arranged in a cross around eagle shield of arms, initials E G N of the mint master and the date 1738 below. F. 2363; Schrötter 184; Olding 334. Extremely fine, with lustre NGC AU 58+ (2175212-030) Estimate: 3000 CHF |  |
Match 2:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 162 | Auction date: 6 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 1162 Price realized: 13,000 CHF (Approx. 16,026 USD / 13,962 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Germany County of Hanau-Münzenberg. Wilhelm IX, 1764-1821, from 1785 Landgrave, 1803 Prince Elector of Hessen-Kassel (as Wilhelm I) Ducat 1768, Hanau mint, mint master Johann Jakob Encke, AV 3.49 g. Dies by Johann Heinrich Schepp, Frankfurt. Bust in scale armour and the Order of the Elephant on a ribbon to the right, the initial of the die engraver below. Rev. Two crowned lions holding the shield of arms of Hesse-Hanau adorned with with the Order of the Elephant beneath the landgrave's coronet, the initials of the mint master between the date 17-68 below. F. 1285; Schütz 2070; Müller 2802; Schön 45. Extremely rare. Good extremely fine, with lustre NGC MS 63 (2175209-010) Ex J. Schulman, Amsterdam sale 27.2.1939, no. 211 ("très rare"). Count Wilhelm IX of Hanau was an avid coin collector. His main supplier was Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who can be considered the first German coin dealer. In 1769, the Count and later Elector Wilhelm appointed the Frankfurt coin dealer as court factor. Rothschild subsequently succeeded in expanding his business to include financial transactions outside the coin trade, thus establishing the Rothschild family's legendary wealth. Estimate: 10000 CHF |  |
Match 3:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 162 | Auction date: 6 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 1264 Price realized: 4,500 CHF (Approx. 5,547 USD / 4,833 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Germany Karl Alexander, 1733-1737 Karolin 1735, Stuttgart mint, mint master Johann Friedrich Breuer, AV 9.76 g. Dies by Christoph Schmelz. Armoured, draped bust right, with chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the initial S of the die engraver on the arm. Rev. Quartered shield of arms with inescutcheon on a mantle surmounted by a prince's coronet, chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece around it, the mint master's initials F - B below between the date 17-35. Leaf border. F. 3589; Klein/Raff 164. Very rare in this condition. Good extremely fine NGC MS 64 (2175215-035) Purchased from Leo Hamburger, Frankfurt 10.7.1933. Estimate: 1500 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 162 | Auction date: 6 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 1054 Price realized: 140,000 CHF (Approx. 172,584 USD / 150,355 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Germany City of Augsburg 10 Ducats 1744, Augsburg mint, mint master Johann Christian Holeisen, AV 34.76 g. Dies by Jonas Thiebaud. View of the city from the east, above it the shining eye of God. Above the exergue line T (initial of the die cutter), below it the year MDCCXLIV between two horseshoes (the mark of the mint master). Rev. Bust of Emperor Charles VII wearing a laurel wreath, draped and armoured, with the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece to the right, below in an oval the initials of the die cutter IT. With leaf rim. F. 97 ('very rare'); Forster -; Forster/Schmid -; Vetterle 1744.2. Of the highest rarity. Struck with the taler dies. With minor marks, extremely fine NGC MS 61 (2175164-002) One of the few multiple ducats bearing the image of Charles VII, the last emperor from the House of Wittelsbach. Alongside Philipp Heinrich Müller, Jonas Thiebaud is arguably the most important medallist and engraver of coin-dies from Augsburg. He was born at Neuchâtel in 1695. From his youth he devoted himself to die-sinking; from 1710 to 1714 he was apprenticed to Dassier at Geneva; on his return to Neuchatel, he was often employed by the Mint of Berne. From 1724 to 1733 he was working for the Count of Montfort, the Prince of Hohenzollern, and the Canton of Lucerne. Later he was for three years in the service of the Ducal mint of Württemberg and from there he went to St. Gall and Appenzell. In 1740 he took an appointment as Medal-engraver to the Mint at Augsburg, where he obtained the citizenship and a pension. He engraved a great many coin-dies also for Haldenstein, Mannheim, Baden-Durlach, Appenzell, Eichstätt, Ulm, Bavaria, Bückeburg Lindau, Hildesheim and Münster. Estimate: 75000 CHF |  |
Match 5:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 162 | Auction date: 6 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 1093 Price realized: 85,000 CHF (Approx. 104,783 USD / 91,287 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Germany Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, 1729-1757 5 Karolin (50 Gulden) 1732, Schwabach mint, mint master Johann Jakob Ebenhauer, AV 48.08 g. CAR WILH FRID M B D Draped, armoured bust right. Rev. Divided shield of arms surmounted by nine helmets, the year 17-32 to either side below. Reeded edge. F. -; Schön 38a. Of the highest rarity, two specimens known and the only one in private hands (the other in the Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna). Marked value XIIII engraved on obverse and minor metal flaws and edge marks. Extremely fine NGC AU DETAILS, OBV GRAFFITI (2175195-002) This coin has never appeared at auction and is missing from Friedberg. Struck from the dies of the taler (Dav. 1982; Grüber coll. 1982). The unsigned dies for this coin were cut by the Nuremberg medallist Georg Wilhem Vestner (cf. Schön, Franken p. 145). This is a coin of great historical interest. An analysis of its fineness (XRF) revealed a gold content of 80.5% (silver 12%, copper 4.6%). It is therefore not Ducat gold (98.6%), but rather a multiple of the Karolin, whose gold content corresponds to that of our coin (77% gold, 16.7% silver, 6.5% copper). The Karolin, worth 10 guilders, was introduced in Bavaria in 1726 and minted in the Principality of Ansbach from 1734 onwards (we are indebted to Dr Gerhard Schön, Munich, for this information). The previous owner, who engraved the XIIII (Ducats) on the coin, seems to have been unaware of this, as was the previous owner of the second known example of this coin, which is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and also has a 14 engraved on it. Estimate: 50000 CHF |  |
