Künker Exklusiv - Summer 2024

NEWS FROM THE AUCTION AND GOLD MARKET

Dear Customers, Dear Coin Enthusiasts,

Our latest issue of Künker Exklusiv once again has many exciting topics from the world of numismatics in store for you. The focus is on our summer auctions, which will take place from 18-21 June 2024 at Vienna House Remarque hotel in Osnabrück. Thanks to our good cooperation with our long-standing customers, we are able to present a large number of rare, historically- and aesthetically exquisite pieces and collections in the two auctions 408 and 409. These include coins from a private collection in Northern Europe, gold coins from the Electors and Archbishops of Mainz, coins from the former Preussag Collection, and 19th century coins from a private collection in the Rhineland. On pages 6-10, our colleague Prof Johannes Nollé takes a closer look at some of the coins from our Auction 409, and highlights their historical significance.

Members of our team are guests at various coin fairs around the world throughout the year. These visits are always worthwhile, not least because they always offer a good opportunity to meet customers and other interested parties. Throughout the summer there are many events in which we participate, including the “International Numismatic Event”, which will take place from 26-29 June at the Four Seasons Hotel in Madrid, and the “World’s Fair of Money” in Chicago, which the American Numismatic Association (ANA) will hold from 6-10 August. This year, we will be exhibiting an absolute highlight of German numismatics at this important fair: the famous gold löser, a gold copy of the two-thaler Jacob’s löser, which Duke Friedrich Ulrich of Wolfenbüttel had minted in 1625. You can find out more about this coin on pages 12-13 of this issue.

As part of our summer auctions, we invite you to a barbecue on Thursday, 20 June beginning at 6 pm in the foyer of the auction hotel. We look forward to receiving your confirmations by e-mail to service@kuenker.de, or by telephone at +49 (0)541-962020.

Last winter we had the honour of auctioning the first part of the Dr Kaya Sayar Collection, and in this issue we focus once again on Cilician coins from the Sayar Collection. We also inform you about an important numismatic conference in Antalya, Turkey, in which Prof Nollé took part. And we are pleased to bring you another instalment of our series “Numismatic collections around the world” in this summer issue; this time our journey takes us to the island of Gotland and its museum.

Abb. 6: Ausbeuteprägung St. Jakob Gold. Fürstentum Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Friedrich Ulrich, 1613 - 1634. Löser zu 20 Goldgulden 1625, Goslar oder Zellerfeld. Die Preussag-Sammlung, Teil 1, Los 43. Schätzung: 210.000 Euro, Zuschlag: 910.000 Euro

We hope you enjoy this issue of Künker Exklusiv. We wish you a relaxing summer, with enough time to devote yourself to one of the most enjoyable leisure activities, handling your collection.

Dr. Andreas Kaiser

Ulrich Künker

Special Collections at Künker in June: Scandinavia, Mainz and 19th-Century Germany

Künker is the first choice when it comes to auctioning off special collections. This is proven once again by the special collections showcased in Künker’s Summer Auction Sales: Scandinavia, German coins from the 19th century, Mainz gold coins, Wismar rarities, yield and mining coins as well as patterns from the Coenen Collection.

From 18 to 21 June 2024, Osnabrück will shine in the light of numismatics. Once again, collectors from all over the world have entrusted Künker’s specialists with the sale of the coins that they assembled over many years. This is why several special collections will be auctioned off at once. Particularly extensive are:

• a collection of Scandinavian coins a collection of 19th-century German coins a collection of Mainz gold coins

In addition, there is a comprehensive ensemble of yield and mining issues from the Preussag AG Collection, a small special collection with Wismar issues as well as a wide range of patterns from the Coenen Collection.

Künker’s auction sales are always a social event. So take the time to participate in the sale on site and enjoy a nice chat with like-minded people during the breaks! Künker’s customer service would be delighted to help you find an accommodation in Osnabrück.

Scandinavian Coins from a Northern European Private Collection

14:

Estimate: 25,000 euros

KLot 20: Denmark. Frederik III. 2 speciesdalers 1655, Copenhagen. Extremely rare. Very fine to extremely fine.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

ünker has specialized in coins from Scandinavia for many years. Numerous important collections with a focus on this topic were auctioned off by Künker. In June 2024, the Osnabrück auction house will once again present a major collection of Scandinavian issues. It contains a large series with coins from Denmark and Sweden, but also an extensive ensemble of coins from Schleswig-Holstein.

The time frame of the Danish issues ranges from Hans (14811513) to Christian IX (1912-1914); and regarding Sweden from Charles XI (1660-1697) to Charles XV (1859-1872). Connoisseurs will encounter numerous rarities. They include, for example, one of the first gold coins from Denmark and a series of multiple speciedalers, commissioned by Christian IV in 1624. Their Latin inscription bears testimony to the fact that these coins were minted from the silver of the new mines in Kongsberg. It reads Benedictio Domini Divites Facit – and can be roughly translated as: the blessing of the Lord creates wealth without effort.

At least as noteworthy is an extensive series of Danish gold coins. The pieces remind us of a time when Denmark aspired to become a colonial power. You can find out more about this subject in the article by Johannes Nollé.

Lot 1545: Denmark. Christian V. 2 ducats n.d. (1699), Copenhagen, commemorating his death. Very rare. Obv. about extremely fine; rev. extremely fine. Estimate: 10,000 euros

2290: Schleswig-Holstein. Frederick

1666 ducat,

Estimate: 5,000 euros

Very rare. About extremely fine.

981:

Estimate: 10,000 euros

Lot 1827: Sweden. Charles XIV John.

4 ducats 1838, Stockholm.

Only 626 specimens minted. Extremely fine.

Estimate: 6,000 euros

Lot

Denmark. Christian IV. 4 speciesdalers 1624, Copenhagen. Very rare. Very fine.

Lot

Schleswig-Holstein. Christian IV. 1641 broad double speciesdaler, Mainz. Extremely rare. Very fine.

Lot

III.

Glückstadt.

German Coins of the 19th Century from a German

Private Collection in the Rhenish Region

The 19th century was a period in which monetary treaties and economic power were systematically used to gain political advantage. Without all the monetary and tax treaties, Prussia would have never managed to push Austria out of race to become the dominant German state this quickly after 1848.

Thus, the almost 300 lots with German coins of the 19th century from a German private collection in the Rhenish region are important testimonies to this period of crucial importance for economic history. They contain coins from many parts of the empire – both minted before and after 1871 – as well as Austrian issues.

When selecting his pieces, the collector paid utmost attention to quality, which is why those interested in perfectly preserved early machine-minted pieces can look forward to a rich selection.

specimens minted. About FDC in Proof quality.

Estimate: 4,000 euros

Lot 2633: Württemberg. William II. 3 marks 1916. Jubilee of the reign. Rare. About FDC in Proof quality.

Estimate: 5,000 euros

Gold Coins from the City of Mainz

Are you a collector of gold coins from the city of Mainz?

In this case, you should highlight 21 June 2024 in your calendar. On that very day, an extensive special collection with 90 lots presenting Mainz guldens and ducats will enter the market. The time frame ranges from the early issues of the mid-14th century minted after the Florentine model up to the last ducats created under Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal right before the Final Recess of the Imperial Deputation (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss) in 1803. The eventful history of the important archbishopric, which was ruled by some of the most influential politicians of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, is reflected by these coins.

Lot 2203: Mainz. Wolfgang von Dalberg. 1593 gold gulden, Mainz. Very rare. About extremely fine.

Estimate: 8,000 euros

Lot 562: Bavaria. Louis II. 1869 double vereinstaler. Very rare. Extremely fine to FDC.

Estimate: 5,000 euros

2484: Baden. Frederick I. 5 marks 1888. Very rare. About FDC.

Estimate: 4,000 euros

Lot 2227: Mainz. Lothar Franz von Schönborn. 2 ducats n.d. (1696), Nuremberg. Very rare. Extremely fine to FDC.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

Yield and Mining Issues from the Preussag Collection

Sollectors of mining issues – this is for you! Auction 408 includes about 120 lots of excellent provenance. They are all from the Preussag Collection, which was auctioned off between 2015 and 2016 by London Coin Galleries and Künker. Mining fans will encounter interesting motifs on lösers, coins and medals; and numerous pieces bear inscriptions that tell us where the silver they were minted of came from. Those who did not have the opportunity to participate in the sale of the Preussag Collection back then will get a second chance now.

Lot 622: Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Heinrich Julius. Löser of 4 reichstalers 1612, Zellerfeld. From the Preussag Collection Very rare. Extremely fine.

Estimate: 15,000 euros

Lot 661: Brunswick-Lüneburg-Celle. Christian Louis. Löser of 4 reichstalers 1664, Clausthal. From the Preussag Collection Very rare. About extremely fine.

Estimate: 10,000 euros

Lot 470: Austria. Franz Josef I. 1857 double vereinstaler, Vienna. Commemorating the completion of Austria’s Southern Railway. Only 1,644

Lot

927:

1690 gilded bronze

From the Preussag Collection Extremely rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 5,000 euros

Lot 1630: France. Gold medal n.d. (around 1900) by G. Dupré. Award of the Mineral Industry Society in Paris, given to Jacques Taffanel. FDC.

Estimate: 7,500 euros

Special Collection Wismar

Coins from the city of Wismar are comparatively rare. And well-struck coins from the city of Wismar are even rarer. Therefore, a series of more than 30 lots with coins from Wismar is quite a large offer given this special field. Especially when you consider that these are extraordinarily well-struck pieces of very fine and above quality. Similar selections cannot be found often on the market. So if you collect Wismar issues, you should definitely seize this opportunity.

1029: Wismar. 1581 reichstaler (32 schillings). Very rare. Very fine.

Estimate: 5,000 euros

Patterns from the Coenen Collection

M oreover, another part of the Coenen Collection will be on sale in auction 409. This extensive special collection of German patterns and error coins focuses on pieces minted after 1871. Those who are interested in this field and are looking for special pieces will be delighted about the wide selection of rarities on offer.

Lot 2691: BFRG. 2 DM 1951G. Only 33 specimens minted. Proof.

Estimate: 300 euros

World-Class Rarities

Let us round off this preview with the numerous world rarities that are presented in both Künker auctions 408 and 409. No matter what you collect, you will find a highlight from your field of interest.

Let us begin with a small series of Chinese dollars of excellent quality and great rarity. As many as three lots compete for your attention: a 1916 dollar commemorating the beginning of the Hung Hsien Period, a 1921 dollar for President Xu Shichang’s taking office and a 1924 dollar celebrating the unification of the Republic.

Are you a collector of Belgian coins? In this case, you can choose between a highly rare quadruple souverain d’or of the Spanish King Charles II and a just as rare 100-franc piece of 1853.

Be it a gold medal with the portrait of Oliver Cromwell or a doppio ducato by Alfonso I d’Este – the wealth of outstanding numismatic rarities is downright breathtaking. Let us take

Jacques Taffanel (1875-1946) made a name for himself with his research and his development of safety measures against dust explosions, which frequently occurred in mines. He worked at the state research center in Liévin, which had been set up after the Courrières disaster on 10 March 1906 – with 1,099 casualties, Europe’s worst mining accident to date – to make mining safer. He was awarded this medal in 1911. In the very same year, he received the cross of the

of

For example, the Coenen Collection contains a variety of the Federal German 2-mark piece of 1951, of which only 33 specimens were minted and whose design was never used for mass production. It is almost unbelievable that this lot only has an estimate of 300 euros. Just imagine what such a piece would fetch if we were not talking about a German but

a US circulation coin! Currently, prices for German patterns are very low compared to their rarity. Thus, taking a closer look is definitely worth it.

Lot 2743: German Empire. Saxe-Meiningen. George II. 2 marks 1915D. Very rare. About FDC in Proof quality.

Estimate: 3,000 euros

Transylvania as an example: there are simple and multiple ducats from Sigismund Rakoczi up to Michael Apafi on offer.

We will close this chapter with the three top pieces of the auction sale. Two of them are from France: an eightfold Louis d’or by Louis XIII à la tête laurée from 1640 with an estimate of 200,000 euros; and the pattern for an écu de Calonne by Louis XVI from 1786 with a starting price of 100,000 euros. This probably unique piece was once part of the collection of King Farouk of Egypt.

Those who want to own the 20-kronen piece of Austria’s last emperor of 1918 will get their chance: what is probably the only specimen on the market will be auctioned off at Künker!

Legion

Honor.

Lot

Saxony. John George III.

medal by M. H. Omeis.

Lot

Lot 1052: Wismar. 1668 reichstaler (32 schillings). Very rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 7,500 euros

Lot 372: China. Republic. 1 dollar n.d. (1916), commemorating the beginning of the Hung Hsien period. Very rare. NGC MS64. About FDC. Estimate: 20,000 euros

Lot 1519: Belgium. Charles II of Spain. 4 souverains d’or 1696, Bruges. Extremely rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 50,000 euros

Lot 1521: Belgium. Leopold I. 100 francs 1853, Brussels, commemorating the wedding of the heir to the throne. Only 482 specimens minted. About FDC.

Estimate: 50,000 euros

Lot 1601: France. Louis XVI. Pattern for the écu de Calonne 1786, Paris. From the collection of King Farouk of Egypt. Probably unique. Extremely fine to FDC.

Estimate: 100,000 euros

Rarities from the German States

Of course, Künker’s catalogs 408 and 409 also include many rarities from the German states, which we would like to present at this point:

Estimate: 15,000 euros

Estimate: 60,000 euros

Estimate: 20,000 euros

1020: Wallenstein. Albrecht. 1628 reichstaler, Jičín. Very rare. Very fine +. Estimate: 15,000 euros

Lot 2089: Prussia. Frederick (III) I. 1706 ducat, Minden. Probably the 2nd known specimen. About extremely fine. Estimate: 30,000 euros

Lot 2274: Saxony. Frederick Augustus I. 5 ducats 1733, Dresden. Off-metal strike in gold from the dies of the 1/2 reichstaler. Obv. extremely fine. Rev. extremely fine to FDC.

Estimate: 50,000 euros

Lot 2281: Saxony. Frederick Augustus II. Gold cast bar n.d. (around 1850) of 277.22 g. Very rare. Very fine.

Estimate: 20,000 euros

Lot 2135: Hamburg. Portugalöser of 10 ducats n. d. (1578-1582). Very rare. Traces of mounting, very fine. Estimate: 30,000 euros

As usual, we showcase particularly valuable pieces in this preview – but the catalogs obviously contain coins from every price category. Estimates start in the mid-three figure range.

To order a catalog contact Künker, Nobbenburger Straße 4a, 49076 Osnabrück; phone: +49 541 962020; fax: +49 541 9620222; or via e-mail: service@kuenker.de. You can access the auction catalogs online at www.kuenker.de.

If you want to submit your bid from your computer at home, please remember to register for this service in good time.

For auction catalogs 408-409 and a detailed auction overview simply scan the adjacent QR code

Lot 1890: Hungary / Transylvania. Achatius Barcsai. 10 ducats 1659, Klausenburg. Very rare. Very fine to extremely fine.

Lot 1573: France. Louis XIII. Huit louis d’or à la tête laurée 1640, Paris. Extremely rare. Extremely fine. Estimate: 200,000 euros

Lot 781: Zollern. Jost Nikolaus II. 1544 taler. Extremely rare. Very fine to extremely fine. Estimate: 7,500 euros

Lot 1058: Württemberg. John Frederick. 1610 reichstaler, Stuttgart. Very rare. Very fine to extremely fine.

Lot 920: Saxony. Christian II, John George I and Augustus. 1610 broad quadruple reichstaler, Dresden. Very rare. Very fine +.

Lot

With the Eyes of a Historian: A Closer Look at Some of the Coins in Our Catalogue 409

It is always a special pleasure for me to leaf through a recently published coin catalogue and come across coins that bring the memory of historical epochs and outstanding events to life. This is especially true of coins that allow us to 'shake hands' with important historical figures. In such cases, I am always reminded of what the founder of our company meant when he referred to his company as a "house of minted history ". I am happy to take you with me on my historical excursion. The coins, whose historical context I would like to introduce you to, command a high price simply because of their rarity. And this is justified: When rarity is combined with aesthetics and historical significance, such coins are sought after and their acquisition is often a great challenge, but always a good and safe investment. Such coins are rare and remain rare.

An Italian Renaissance Principality, a Cannon Duke, Beautiful Women with Esprit and a Titian Painting

There are very few coins from the High Renaissance that provide such a vivid insight into the intricate events of the period as this double ducat of the Duchy of Ferrara with the bust of Alfonso I d'Este. He was Duke of Ferrara in the years 1505-1534. The portrait shows the prince in splendid armour, which subtly indicates that he had to assert himself in numerous military conflicts in 'a culture of violence ' (Volker Reinhardt). The legend of the coin names him as the third Duke of Ferrara (ALFONSVS DVX FERRARIAE III [tertius]). For those who know how to read this extremely rare coin, this gold coin is, in the truest sense of the word, 'minted history' of one of the most magnificent epochs in European history (Fig. 1).

The Duchy of Ferrara (Fig. 2) was ruled by the Este family, one of the most noble families in Italy. Ferrara was a fief of the Papal States and the Pope, whereas the duchies of Modena and Reggio (Emilia), which were linked to Ferrara in personal union, were fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, i.e. of the emperor. This situation of the duchy could easily become precarious if there were no direct heirs so that the territories threatened to revert to the feudal lords. Furthermore, the duchy had a number of neighbours who sought to absorb it, above all the Papal States and Venice. And then there were the French kings, who had been endeavouring to bring larger parts of Italy under their control since 1494. They therefore instigated a series of wars and turned Italy into a bloody battlefield in the first half of the 16th century. Finally, the emperor and the Spanish Aragonese tried to assert their interests in Italy.

Alfonso's father Ercole (duke from 1471-1505) had managed to skilfully steer his duchy through the difficult times. Duke Ercole had the city of Ferrara developed into one of the most modern residences in Europe; important artists, inventors and scholars stayed at his court. He had accustomed his son to battle and war at an early age: Alfonso was only 3 years old when he rode in the Ferrara Palio (horse race); at the age of 7, he had already taken part in a battle. He was far from being a spoilt princely son. Thanks to this upbringing, Alfonso became a knowledgeable and experienced military commander who was particularly interested in gunnery.

Ercole used his children to pursue a prudent marriage policy: in 1490 he married his eldest daughter Isabella to the Marquis of Mantua, Gianfrancesco II Gonzaga. In Mantua, Isabella became the greatest patron and art collector of the Italian Renaissance. She was acquainted with almost all the great artists of the High Renaissance (1500-1530) and patronised most of them. She had the reputation of being the most important woman in the world (‘la prima donna del mondo’) (fig. 3). In January 1491, her brother, the hereditary prince Alfonso depicted on the coin, married the Milanese Anna Maria Sforza, while at the same time Ercole's daughter Beatrice was married to the Milanese Prince Ludovico Sforza (called ‘Il Moro’). Ercole d'Este thus attempted to create a close connection between the Estes of Ferrara and the princely house of their powerful neighbour Milan. However, both bridesAnna Maria and Beatrice - died in childbirth in 1497.

When Ercole d'Este therefore had to remarry his son and heir Alfonso, Pope Alexander VI (Borgia) endeavoured to marry Alfonso to his daughter Lucrezia. A wild time lay behind the young Lucrezia, who was not yet twenty at that time. Celebrated for her beauty — especially for her blonde hair –, her education and her wit, she had with her father's blessing been divorced by her first husband for political reasons. Lucrezia's brother

Cesare Borgia had murdered her second husband, who also stood in the way of the pope's erratic politics. The beautiful young widow Lucrezia gained an extremely bad reputation as a result of the pope's intrigues and her own flightiness: she was rumoured to have had all kinds of love affairs, including incest with her father and brother. This was one of the reasons why Ercole and Alfonso of Ferrara were initially outraged by the papal offer, especially as they did not regard the Borgia family as equals. Finally, in 1501, Ercole nevertheless accepted the Pope's offer after he had granted the bride a huge dowry. In Ferrara (fig. 4), the scandalous woman of Rome became the celebrated centre of a glittering court of muses (fig. 5): It included the poets Pietro Bembo and Ludovico Ariosto, the painters Titian, Giovanni Bellini and Dosso Dossi and the sculptor Antonio Lombardo. Lucrezia bore Alfonso eight children; she died shortly after the birth of her daughter Isabella Maria in June

1519. Like his father, Alfonso I was a generous patron of the arts, but his main interests were war and the construction of artillery. In December 1509, with his excellent Ferrarese artillery, he succeeded in sinking a large Venetian fleet at Polesella, which earned him the title of a 'duca artigliere '/cannon duke (Fig. 6).

The reverse of Alfonso's double ducat depicts a scene from the New Testament (Matthew 22: 15-22): A Pharisee, who wanted to get Jesus into trouble, asked him whether it was permissible for a Jew to pay taxes to the Roman occupation power. Jesus then wanted to know whether he had a coin on him with which such taxes were paid. The Pharisee then pulled out a Roman denarius and Jesus asked him whose image and name he saw on the coin. The Pharisee replied that it was the image and title of the Roman

Fig. 1: Double ducat of Alfonso I d’Este. Künker catalogue 409, Lot 1674, estimate 50,000 euros

Fig. 2: Italy around 1500. Wikipedia, Furfur.

Fig. 3: Portrait of Alfonso’s famous sister, Isabella d’Este, on a gold medal by Giancristoforo Romano, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Wikipedia, member 5.

1,5:1

emperor. Jesus then gave him an ambiguous answer: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" (Latin: "reddite ergo quae sunt Caesaris, Caesari, et QVE SVNT DEI DEO!"). This saying of Jesus, the last part of which is inscribed on the reverse of Alfonso's double ducat, could easily become the maxim of a prince's reign - whereby it was up to him to decide how he wanted to interpret the sentence. We know that Alfonso d'Este greatly appreciated this statement of Jesus. He had Titian paint a picture of this scene for his cabinet. This painting came into the possession of a branch of the Este family in Modena when the Papal State seized the Duchy of Ferrara in 1597. There, in 1745, Augustus the Strong bought it for his collection of paintings, so that today Alfonso's 'Zinsgroschen' can be admired in the Dresden Picture Gallery (Fig. 7). It is known under the title 'Der Zinsgroschen', because it is about the coin that a Jew had to pay according to the Roman census (tax assessment). The picture painted by Titian for Alfonso of Ferrara is not for sale. However, the golden double ducat commemorating this painting, Titian and Alfonso of Ferrara is for

In today's perception, Denmark is not one of the important European colonial powers, such as Portugal, Spain, England, France and the Netherlands. This image is historically completely inaccurate, as the Danish king ruled over Norway from 1380 to 1814 and over Iceland until 1918. To this day, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, formerly Norwegian possessions, still belong to Denmark, but enjoy extensive self-government. It is even less known that Denmark had bases and colonial territories on the African Gold Coast (today Ghana), in the Caribbean (the Virgin Islands, discovered by Columbus and named after the 11,000 virgins of St Ursula) and in the East Indies (Tranquebar on the south-east Indian Coromandel Coast, Serampore in West Bengal and the Nicobar Islands) (Fig. 9).

This misjudgement was caused by the fact that Denmark lost its African and Asian overseas territories quite early. In 1778, the Trieste East India Trading Company took islands of the Nicobar Islands from the Danes and Austria declared them crown colonies. One of them was even given the name Teressa

A double guinea ducat from 1658 marks the beginnings of Danish colonial endeavours in Africa: Copenhagen mint (6.99 g): FRIDERICUS : III : D(ei) : G(ratia) : DANIÆ : NORWEGIAE; crowned bust of the Danish king in armour with draped cloak // VANDALOR(um) : GOTHOR(um):Q(ue) : REX; three-master sailing to the left, flanked by the legend 'TAN-DEM' ('At last it has come to this! '). In the section the date 16-58 with a barbed fillet for producing blanks (Zainhaken) in between (Fig. 8a).

The title of King of the Vandals/Wends (rex Vandalorum/ Vendernes konge) was used by the Danish kings after the vassals of the Danish King Knut VI (1182-1202) won a victory over the Slavs at the Battle of Waschow, a village in Pomerania, in 1200 or 1201. Although the Danes soon lost these territories again, they retained the title. Waldemar IV (1340-1375) added the title of Rex Gothorum (Goternes konge) to the Danish royal titles when he conquered Gotland in 1362. Queen Margarethe II did not relinquish both titles until her accession to the throne in 1972.

Fig. 4: Ferrara, Castello Estense. Wikipedia.

Fig. 5: Bartolomeo Veneziano, 1510, Portrait of Lucrezia (Borgia/d’Este) as Duchess of Ferrara, National Gallery, London.

Fig. 6: Alfonso d’Este, in the background the Battle of Polesella, Battista Dossi, between 1530-1540, Galleria Estense in Modena.

Fig. 7: Titian, The Interest Penny, 1516, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

In order to secure the supply of slaves, they began to build a series of forts. The most important of these was Christiansborg Fort, named after Christian V (1670-1699). It became the centre of the Danish slave trade in Africa (Fig. 11). The Danes had bought the site for Christiansborg from the chief of the Ga tribe, who guaranteed them a constant supply of enslaved countrymen - prisoners of war and illfavoured people. The fort was constantly enlarged. It is depicted on the reverse of a ducat minted by Frederik IV in 1704 (Fig. 8b). In 1747 it appears on the two-ducat piece of Frederik V (Fig. 8d).

These double ducats were minted in an edition of 95 pieces in 1657 and 100 pieces in 1658. Taking into account the losses that occurred over more than 350 years, this is an extremely rare coin. Even rarer - if they appear on the market at all - are threeand four-ducat coins of this type. The Danish 'Guinea dukat', as it is called, is not a circulation coin, but a gift coin for special occasions. These are linked to the founding of the 'Danish Africa Company' (Dansk Afrikanske Kompagni), which was founded by the adventurer Hendrik Carloff in March 1657. Carloff had initially been involved in Dutch colonial ventures, then bought up land for the Swedes on the Gold Coast from African chiefs to build forts and finally, as his financial expectations were not met, offered his services to the Danes. As Frederik III was at war with Sweden, he hoped for great riches from the African trade, especially from the rich influx of African gold. Carloff, who was promoted to General Director of the company, did not disappoint the king and sailed on a ship from Emden in December 1657. He conquered the Swedish forts for Denmark, which he had helped to found and whose weak points he knew well enough. The coins, which show a three-master sailing out and the motto TANDEM/ ' At last it has come to this! ', are probably coins that were mainly distributed to members and supporters of the Dansk Afrikanske Kompagni.

The African chiefs soon sold not only gold and ivory to the members of the company, but also slaves on a large scale, who were taken by the Danes to their possessions in the Caribbean. There they were mainly used to work on the Danish sugar cane plantations. The Danes, thus, also became involved in the gruesome and profitable triangular trade.

With the intensification of the terrible trade in human beings in the 18th century, there were increasingly strong demands to ban slavery. This movement was particularly strong in Great Britain. The slave trade was banned in Denmark in 1792, but this law only came into force in 1803 after a long transitional period. It was not until 1848 that slavery was finally abolished in Denmark and its colonies. This meant that the Danish forts in West Africa lost their economic basis. It was only logical that the Danes sold them to the English in 1850, who rounded off their colonial possessions in this way. Christiansborg's story does not end there. The British governor of the Gold Coast colony moved into the fortress. It is therefore depicted on stamps of the British colony (Fig. 12a and b). When Ghana was granted independence in 1957, Christiansborg was the seat of the Ghanaian government until 2013. In 2000, the Danish fortress was listed as a World Heritage Site.

A gold ducat was also minted under Frederik V (1746-1766), which refers to the activities of the Danish-Asian Trading Company (Dansk Asiatisk Kompagni) (Fig. 8c). This was the third establishment of an East Asian trading company in Denmark: It had been founded in 1732 and was liquidated in 1840 after decades of meagre profits. It maintained bases in India and also traded in China. Overseas trade could be profitable, but was always associated with high risks and required enormous amounts of capital.

These very rare gold ducats clearly express the pride of the Danish kings in their successes in overseas trade. They may have been minted with gold that came from Africa or East Asia.

Today there are quite different views. However, we must be careful not to label the actions of the actors - be it the African chiefs who sold their countrymen; be it the Arab traders who were heavily involved in the slave trade; be it the traders of the colonial powers who used the abundant supply of slaves to engage in an inhumane triangular trade - with our knowledge and moral concepts, often focusing only on parts of the events or only on selected actors. What is certain is that we should try to learn from history. Only with concrete knowledge about our past can we gain more rational and humane attitudes towards our world and the people in it. Coins can also contribute to this, especially those that reflect the historical aberrations of mankind, entire nations and individual people.

Fig. 8a: Frederik III (1648-1670): Double ducat 1658. Künker Auction 409, Lot 1538, estimate 2,500 euros

8c: Frederik V (1746-1766), ducat 1746, with a ship’s bow bearing a flag of the KODAC (Kongelig Oetroyeret Dansk Asiatisk Compagni). Künker Auction 409, Lot 1549, estimate 5,000 euros

Fig. 8d: Frederik V (1746-1766), double ducat 1750, with the Danish Fort Christiansborg in Guinea. Künker Auction 409, Lot 1550, estimate 5,000 euros

Fig. 8b: Frederik IV (1699-1730), ducat 1704, with the Danish Fort Christiansborg in Guinea. Künker Auction 409, Lot 1547, estimate 2,500 euros

Fig. 09: Danish overseas territories. JN after Gabriel Ziegler, Wikipedia.

Fig. 10: Seal of the American Virgin Islands. It shows the location of the capital Charlotte Amelie on the main island of St Thomas, flanked by the Star-Spangled Banner and the Danebrog, then the island of St John and below St Croix with a windmill. In the centre of the seal is the island’s national bird – the sugar bird or bananaquit – on a flowering branch.

Fig. 11: Fort Christiansborg around 1750, engraving after an anonymous drawing by a Danish officer.

Oliver Cromwell's Short-lived English Republic and its Monarchical Fulfilment

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) also shows how differently historical figures can be judged from the perspective of those born after him. For some, he is a regicide, for others the champion of parliamentary rights and the preservation of Protestantism in England.

Originally just a minor country nobleman, Oliver Cromwell rose to become the leading commander of a parliamentary army that he transformed into a powerful military force during the civil war that Parliament started against King Charles I in 1642. Cromwell was significantly involved in the military successes over the royalists and in the execution of King Charles I in 1649. From 1653-1658 he ruled as Lord Protector over an English Republic, for which the term 'Commonwealth' was introduced. When Cromwell died in 1658, his son Richard assumed the title of Lord Protector, but abdicated in 1659 and went into exile in France. Soon afterwards, the son of the beheaded king returned to England and was installed by Parliament as King Charles II (Fig. 13) in 1660.

Cromwell had not only fought for the rights of Parliament and against the absolutist tendencies of Charles I, who referred to his divine right (Dei Gratia Rex). Cromwell was also a religious zealot who wanted to preserve England's Protestantism and prevent re-Catholicisation by the Stuart kings. His savage actions against the Catholics of Ireland earned him the reputation of a brutal butcher of the Irish people.

It was not without reason that a statue of Cromwell was given a place in front of the ‘Reformation Wall’ in Geneva (Fig. 14).

The associated relief links Cromwell with the Bill of Rights. After Cromwell's death and the restoration of kingship, religious conflicts broke out again in England. They ended with the expulsion of the Catholic King James II in the Glorious Revolution. In his place, the Protestant governor of the Netherlands, William III, and his wife, the Protestanteducated daughter of the Stuart King James II, Mary Stuart, were elevated to rulers of England (Fig. 15). Both signed the Bill of Rights presented to them by the English House of Lords and House of Commons in 1689. The royal signatures enshrined and extended the rights of Parliament vis-à-vis the kingdom, as well as civil rights. It also prevented Catholicism from regaining a foothold in England.

It is possible that the production of an extremely rare gold medal, which can be found in our catalogue 409 as lot 1646 (fig. 16), is connected with the assumption of English kingship by the Dutchman William. It is a stately gold medal weighing over 70 g and measuring almost 50 mm in diameter. The obverse of the piece depicts Cromwell in armour, a reference to his military prowess and merits. He wears a laurel wreath like a king, but is inscribed in the legend as OLIVAR D(ei) G(ratia) R(ei)P(ublicae) ANG(liae) SCO(tiae) HIBERNIÆ PROTECTOR. A fruit-bearing olive tree is depicted on the reverse of the gold medal. A shepherd is grazing his sheep under the olive tree. Other trees and a larger building with a tower can be seen in the background. The Latin legend around the upper edge of the coin reads NON - DEFITIENT - OLIVA - SEP(tember) - 3 - 1658: "There will be no lack of olives", but in correct Latin this should have read "non deficient olivae". The date is the day of Cromwell's death. Until then, 3 September had always been a lucky day in Cromwell's life: On 3 September 1650 he had defeated the Scots at Dunbar, and on 3 September 1651 he had beaten the future King Charles II at Worcester.

The image on the reverse is easy to explain: The olive tree alludes to Cromwell's first name. Whether correctly or incorrectly, Olivar has always been associated with the Latin name for the olive tree and its fruit. Cromwell is the fruit-bearing olive tree. As a wellestablished symbol of peace, it may also evoke thoughts of the peace brought about by Cromwell (with great violence), which enables the (English) shepherd depicted on the reverse of the coin to graze his flock in an Arcadian idyll. This is addressed in a poem on his death: "The Lord sent Oliver the Great, and Good, | Who prov'd our Olive-branch, and Peace he got ".

However, the medal is not the one created by Thomas Simon, the skilled and famous medallist of the London Mint, in connection with Cromwell's ceremonial burial in Westminster Abbey on 23 November 1658. This small gold medal was oval in shape (20 x 22 mm), had an eyelet, weighed only 95 grains (6.175 g) and bore Simon's signature (fig. 17). The obverse legend of the original commemorative medal also differs from the piece offered here in that it reads HIB and not HIBERNIÆ. On the reverse, a stump was placed next to the green olive tree to indicate that the old tree (= Oliver Cromwell) had been felled by death and a young olive tree (Richard Cromwell) had sprouted up next to its stump. Only very few of these pieces were given to Cromwell's closest friends, so they are extremely rare.

The large gold medal up for auction in our auction house (catalogue 409, lot 1646; fig. 16) is probably a later recourse to Simon's commemorative medal for Oliver Cromwell and was probably produced in Holland. It occurs in this size in gold and silver; in gold it is extremely rare, obviously due to its weight of more than 2 ounces: ‘Specimens of Imitation No. II. occur both in gold and silver, but the gold ones are very rare’ (H.W. Henfrey, Numismata Cromwelliana ..., London 1877, 172). There is a similar, but noticeably smaller and lighter golden version of approx. 28 mm in diameter and weighing just over 15 g, but these medals are not rare (Henfrey 171; fig. 18).

As far as we know today, the Dutch replicas are mentioned for the first time in 1691. It is therefore possible that this medal, like the smaller ones, was created in connection with the enthronement of William III of Orange, the larger one certainly as a valuable gift for political and diplomatic purposes. This should come as no surprise: in a way, William's signature on the Bill of Rights made him the realiser of important Cromwellian aims. The olive tree stump of the original commemorative medal is missing on the Dutch replicas. Obviously, the olive tree on these coins should be identified with Cromwell (and not with his unsuccessful son). Under William's reign, it bore the fruit that Oliver Cromwell had once wished for.

A Hapless Emperor who was Proclaimed Blessed

In Austria-Hungary, there were both Austrian/Cisleithanian coins, whose legends are written in Latin and whose coin images emphasise the double-headed imperial eagle, and Hungarian/ Transleithanian coins, which use the Hungarian language and highlight the crown of St Stephen. One of these Hungarian coins is the 20-Crown coin of Karl I of Austria alias Karoly IV of Hungary from 1918. This coin is so rare that there will probably not be another chance to acquire it for a collection any time soon (Fig. 19).

With the death of Emperor Franz Joseph I on 21 November 1916, his great-nephew Karl automatically became Emperor of AustriaHungary (Fig. 20). The Hungarians attached great importance to the fact that he would be crowned with the Crown of St Stephen in Budapest and swear an oath to the Hungarian constitution. The nationally proud Hungarians wanted to prevent Karl from implementing the ideas of Franz Ferdinand, who had been assassinated in Sarajevo, by transforming the German-Hungarian dual monarchy into a German-Hungarian-Slavic triple monarchy. With such a reform of the Habsburg Empire, Slavic territories that were subject to the Hungarian crown would have been carved out of the Kingdom of Hungary. Karl was therefore crowned King of Hungary on 30 December 2016 in Budapest.

Not without reason, the extremely rare original Hungarian 20-crown piece shows Karl at his coronation with the crown of St Stephen (Fig. 19). The Hungarian legend reads KÁROLY, I(sten) K(egyelméböl) A(usztria) CS(ászára) ÉS M(agyar-), H(orvát-), SZ(lavon-) D(almátországok) AP(ostoli) KIR(álya)/'Karl, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria, and of Hungary, Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia Apostolic King'. On the reverse is the coat of arms of the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary, held by two angels and surmounted by the crown of St Stephen (Figs. 19 and 20): From top to bottom, the six-part shield shows the coats of arms of Dalmatia (3 lion heads), Croatia (red and white chequered pattern), Slavonia (marten between the Sava and Drava rivers),

Figs. 12a and b: Stamps of the English Gold Coast colony under George VI and Elizabeth II with the governor’s residence, the Danish Fort Christiansborg.

Fig. 13: Golden medal of Charles II from 1662 on his marriage to Catherine of Braganza. Künker Auction 409, Lot 1647, extremely rare, estimate 8,000 euros

Fig. 14: Monument to the Reformation in Geneva. MHM55, Wikipedia.

Transylvania (black eagle and seven castles), Bosnia-Herzegovina (arm with sword) and Fiume/Rijeka (double-headed eagle on a flowing amphora). The two coats of arms of Hungary are superimposed in a split inescutcheon: on the left the shield of Old Hungary (Hungarian plains), which is divided into a total of seven horizontal red and white stripes; on the right the shield of New Hungary with the white patriarchal cross standing on a green row of three mountains (Tátra, Fátra, Mátra), which is intended to symbolise the apostolic dignity of the Hungarian Kingdom, conferred by the Pope. Below the coat of arms, the place of minting, Kremnitz, is given in Hungarian language: K(örmöcz)B(ánya). The legend reads: MAGYAR KIRÁLYSÁG/'Hungarian Kingdom'. The edge reads HARCBAN ÉS BÉKÉBEN A NEMZETTEL A HAZÁÉRT / 'In battle and in peace with the people for the homeland'. On the Austrian coins, the Hungarian edge inscription corresponds to Karl’s Latin motto PACE BELLOQVE OMNIA PRO PATRIA CVM POPVLO MEO.

Karl, who was not yet thirty when he ascended the throne and whom the old emperor had introduced to the reins of government too late, was completely overwhelmed by the desperate situation in which Austria found itself in the midst of the First World War. He was unsuccessful to alleviate the increasingly tangible economic and social crisis. His efforts to initiate peace negotiations failed, because the Germany was seeking a victorious peace (' Siegfrieden') and Karl was not prepared to accept the loss of territory (such as Trentino to Italy). As a result, he was unable to prevent the complete collapse of his empire in October 1918. After the republic was proclaimed in Berlin on 9 November, the pressure on Karl to abdicate also increased. On 11 November 1918, he was forced to sign a declaration of renunciation in Schönbrunn. On 13 November, the Hungarians also forced Karl to formally renounce his government duties. On 23 March 1919, Karl and his family were faced with

having to emigrate to Switzerland, but having just left Austria Karl took advantage of this to revoke his abdication on 24 March 1919. The Austrian National Council then passed the Habsburg Law, which prohibited Karl and his wife Zita in particular from returning to Austria, but also other family members who refused to recognise Austria as a republic. Furthermore, the Habsburg family fund was confiscated and all titles of nobility were abolished. At Easter 1921 and again in October of the same year, Karl tried in vain to regain at least the Hungarian royal throne. As the victorious powers of First World War were not interested in a renewed military conflict in Europe, they now wanted to get rid of Karl. The Hungarian parliament declared the Habsburgs deposed on 6 November 2021. After a brief imprisonment, Karl and his wife Zita were transferred to a British ship on the Danube on 1 November, which took them to the Black Sea. There, an English man-of-war took them on board and brought them into exile in Madeira. Karl and Zita arrived on the island on 19 November 1921, where they and their children initially lived in an annex of the famous Reid’s Hotel in Funchal, but the deposed imperial couple soon ran out of money for their expensive accommodation. A banking family provided Karl and his family with

lodging in the Quinta do Monte, a manor house above Funchal. The humid climate there took such a severe toll on Karl's health that he died in Monte on 1 April 2022 at the age of 34. On 4 April 2022, he was buried in a side chapel of the pilgrimage church of Nossa Senhora do Monte (Fig. 21). Nowadays, a statue of Karl looks down on Funchal from the square beneath the church (Fig. 22). Attempts by his wife Zita to transfer him to the Capuchin crypt in Vienna could not be realised. However, with the support of the controversial Bishop Krenn, she succeeded in having Karl beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003. The beatification was justified by claiming that Karl worked tirelessly for peace and performed several miracles after his death in response to invocations.

Johannes Nollé

Fig. 21: Charles’ Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Nossa Senhora do Monte (JN).

Fig. 15: William III & Mary Stuart, engraving from 1703 by R. White.

Fig. 16: Large gold medal produced in the Netherlands for Oliver Cromwell, first attested in 1691. Künker Auction 409, Lot 1646, estimate 50,000 euros

Fig. 17: Original gold medal by Th. Simon on the death of Oliver Cromwell (Alfred Morisson Collection; Lessen, BNJ 1982, Pl. I 1; Noonans 188, 21.1.2021, 1176).

Fig. 18: Small Dutch replica of Th. Simon’s medal on the death of Oliver Cromwell (Spink Auction 18004, 27 March 2018, Lot 518).

Fig. 19: 20-crown coin of Charles I of Austria and Charles IV of Hungary. Künker Auction 409, Lot 2052, estimate 150,000 euros

Fig. 20: Coat of arms of the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary from 1915-1918.

Fig. 22: Sarcophagus of Charles I in Monte (JN).

Fig. 23: Statue of Charles I in Monte, with Funchal in the background (JN).

Straightforward Help for Small Everyday Problems

When the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences was still called the Prussian Academy of Sciences, a department was set up on the initiative of the historian and Nobel Prize laureate Theodor Mommsen. The aim of this department was to record all the coin types of the entire Greek world in a single catalog. In 1888, the first freelance contractors were hired for this task, and the department was headed by the famous collector and scholar Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer.

M

uch time has passed since then. It became clear that the scope of the project was far too ambitious. It was therefore decided to focus on the coin types of the northeastern part of the Greek world. Two world wars and one change of system later, this department still exists. It now has a new name and the people behind it are using latest methods of digitalization and AI.

Since 1992, Dr. Ulrike Peter has been in charge of what is now called Corpus Nummorum. She coordinates all of its projects, working with numismatists in Bulgaria, Germany, Turkey and Romania to record all the ancient coins of four historical landscapes – Moesia Inferior, Thrace, Mysia and the Troad. The aim of Corpus Nummorum is to create a complete type catalog of all 104 mints in this region. Of course, the final product is no longer meant to be a printed catalog. All results that have been recorded so far can be accessed by anyone via their website. You can find out more at https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/.

A while ago, the collector and passionate amateur numismatist Yannis Hourmouziadis donated his collection to Corpus Nummorum. And this collection was not only recorded for academic study, but is also used for educational purposes. It is a matter close to Dr. Peter’s heart to hold regular events for students, schoolchildren and interested lay people in the context of the Academy. And the easiest way to get people interested in numismatics is to put a real coin in their hands.

The only problem: the many hundreds of coins came in small paper envelopes, which is why it took Dr. Peter a lot of time to prepare the material for her workshops. She would have liked

to have the coins in BeBa coin boxes, which are common in the German coin trade – but the tight budget made it impossible to buy them.

When Künker’s experts head about this, they immediately checked to see if they had any used coin boxes in stock that they could do without. And indeed, they found some. In less than a month, there were four used BeBa coin boxes ready to use in Dr. Ulrike Peter’s office. She comments: “Thank you so much for this truly generous and incredibly welcome donation!!! It allows us to present our collection in a uniform way in the BeBa boxes. We really appreciate this, and not only because it makes our work so much easier.”

This, in turn, was wonderful to hear for Künker’s numismatists. After all, promoting and supporting numismatic research is truly important to everyone at the Künker auction house!

“History of the coins of Fritzlar and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel”

On Friday evening, 3 May 2024, some 65 guests were invited by the Fritzlar-Chattengau Lions Club, in conjunction with the “Hochzeitshaus” museum association, to the premises of the Hochzeitshaus in Fritzlar.

Following the welcoming address by Lions Club President Adolf Lux, Michael Eubel moderated the remainder of the evening. Herr Eubel gave a preview of activities planned for the upcoming Hessentag (from 24 May to 2 June): A silver anniversary medal depicting the city’s founder Boniface will be on offer. Visitors can also mint their own Boniface pewter medal on a hand spindle press as a souvenir. A highlight of the evening was the lecture by Dr Sebastian Steinbach, who, as a proven and recognised expert on the subject, gave an interesting and entertaining overview of the region’s coinage history in a historical context.

Dr Steinbach succeeded in finding the perfect note with the guests. Despite what could have been a dry topic, there was no shortage of “fun facts”.

In closing, Adolf Lux and Michael Eubel thanked the lecturer Dr Steinbach and Horst Rüdiger Künker for providing the ideas and sponsoring the impressive display of high-resolution images of the exhibits. Afterwards, guests were invited to view the exhibition, which was highly praised on all sides.

We have published a brochure on the

and the

which can be downloaded here.

lecture

exhibition,

The Corpus Nummorum team is delighted with the four BeBa boxes provided by Künker. This will enable them to use the Hourmouziadis Collection more quickly and effectively for educational purposes. Left to right: Dr. Vladimir F. Stolba, Project Director Dr. Ulrike Peter and Daniel Fendius.

Die Verantwortlichen der beeindruckenden Ausstellung: Horst-Rüdiger Künker, Michael Eubel, Dr. Steinbach und Adolf Lux.

A unique gold piece from the Laute valley

The Laute is a small stream in the Upper Harz which flows into the Innerste (Inster, Indistra) River (Fig. 1); the Innerste then flows into the Leine after 97 kilometres. The river name Laute probably goes back to the German word “laut” (loud) and most likely refers to the roaring of the mountain stream when it rushes down the valley at high water. The name of the river has nothing to do with the name of the musical instrument, the lute (German: “laute”). That instrument’s name came to us from Arabic via Spain: al-'ūd refers to a wooden instrument, more precisely a bowl-necked lute. As we shall see, this did not prevent a Wolfenbüttel poet of the Humanist period from associating the river’s name with the musical instrument.

As can be seen from his coins, he was more fortunate with his mining activities. By 1623 at the latest, he was able to take over the Großer St Jakob silver mine in the Lautenthal valley. According to official documentation it had been in operation since 1561, but the yield had steadily declined since 1600, so that the owners finally sold it to the Duke. Frederick Ulrich apparently had to invest heavily to make the mine productive, but his efforts paid off. So much silver was mined that in 1625 a series of five or six silver denominations could be minted from it, celebrating the silver yield from the St Jakob mine (Fig. 5). The obverse depicts the princely coat of arms with the Duke’s title in the inscription and the year of issue, 1625: FRIDERICUS ULRICUS

DEI GRATIA DUX BRUNSUICENSIS ET

St James are an early medieval invention. Persons in the early modern era who got their hands on such a coin did not have any of these problems, however. They trusted in legends, such as those told in the Legenda aurea or “Golden Legend” by Jacobus de Voragine (1228-1298).

On the Wolfenbüttel “ausbeute” coins, two hexameters are placed around the image of Jakobus in an outer inscription: ECCE METALLIFERI CHELYS ANTE AFFLICTA IACOBI NŨC P˜TER MODUL:(os) ARGẼNTI PÕDER·(a) DONAT. It is not easy to read and understand the two verses correctly, as numerous abbreviation signs are used in the second hexameter. The strokes above a vowel indicate the absence of a following N. This goes back to an old tradition, as the N was already pronounced nasalised in classical Latin, which is why the word “consul” was abbreviated to “cos”. A different stroke above the P of PTER indicates that the preposition P(rae)TER is to be read there; a colon denotes the omission of “-os” (not “-um”, which is not metrically possible), and after PÕDER a dot denotes the omission of an “-a". The two hexameters are therefore to be read as follows:

The mining settlement of Lautenthal (Fig. 2) was established in the area between the two waterways Laute and Innerste when rich metal deposits were discovered on the Kranichsberg mountain opposite. Copper mining began there around 1225, but the Great Plague of 1348-1350 depopulated the mining settlement. It was not until around 200 years later that Duke Henry the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1514-1568) was able to recruit experienced miners from the Erzgebirge (“Ore Mountains”) to mine iron there, after the miner Kaspar Bitter discovered a vein of iron ore. After Duke Heinrich Julius (1589-1613) declared Lautenthal a mining settlement and granted it various privileges, the town quickly flourished.

Heinrich Julius’ son, Duke Friedrich Ulrich (1613-1634), was one of the most unfortunate figures among the Wolfenbüttel Guelphs (Fig. 4). His initial situation upon becoming Duke was not good because he had inherited a huge mountain of debt from his father. At the very beginning of his reign (1615), he suffered a defeat in his conflict with Brunswick, which the Dukes of Wolfenbüttel had tried to “incorporate”. Then, in 1617, he lost the Principality of Grubenhagen, which his father had occupied, in a legal proceeding before the principality’s Imperial Chamber Court. One year later the Thirty Years’ War began, which overwhelmed Frederick Ulrich diplomatically, leading first to a brief Danish occupation and then to a protracted occupation by imperial troops. The territory of Wolfenbüttel suffered severely at the hands of the mercenaries passing through. Frederick Ulrich’s weakness was exploited by his courtiers to enrich themselves through the production and issue of inferior small change (“kippen and wippen”). He could not get along with his Brandenburg wife Anna Sophia, so that he remained without descendants and the “middle house” of the Wolfenbüttel line died out with him.

LUNEBURG(ensis)/Friedrich Ulrich, by the grace of God Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg. On the reverse, the Apostle Jakobus “the Elder” (often called the Apostle James in English) is shown in frontal view in a meadow of flowers. Above him shines the sun of God, in which the Hebrew letters stand for the name of God “Yahweh” (/YHWH).

Jakobus wears a travelling hat and holds a book in his right hand and a pilgrim’s staff in his left. Today Jakobus or James, whose veneration was once widespread, is one of the most controversial figures of early Christianity. There is debate as to whether he was an actual brother of Jesus, whether he is the author of the Epistle of St James (to which the book in his hand alludes), and how he can be distinguished from other persons with the same name. The myth of his tomb in Santiago di Compostella in Spanish Galicia and the associated Way of

Fig. 2: Matthäus Merian, view of Lautenthal, around 1650, photo: JN, JN Collection.

Fig. 3: Mining museum at Lautenthals Glück. Photo: Losch, Wikipedia.

Fig. 1: Confluence of the Laute into the Innerste. Photo: Torbenbrinker, Wikipedia.

Estimate: 20,000 euros, hammer price: 22,000 euros

Löser for 20 gold guilders 1625, Goslar or Zellerfeld.

The Preussag Collection, Part 1, Lot 43.

Estimate: 210,000 euros, hammer price: 910,000

écce metálliferí chelys ánte afflícta Iacóbi núnc praetér modulós argénti póndera dónat. Behold, how the ore-rich Jákob’s previously damaged Laute over the lyrics, today bestows pounds of silver.

These are two highly erudite and graceful verses in humanist Latin. The Greek word “chelys” goes back to a presumably Mediterranean, i.e. pre-Greek term for tortoise. The god Hermes is said to have invented the first stringed instrument by covering a tortoise shell with strings made of bovine intestine. “Chelys” eventually became a name for various stringed instruments. In this Latin humanist verse, it refers to the musical instrument the lute, and alludes etymologically to the name of the stream in whose valley the St Jakob ore mine is located. The words “ante afflicta” (previously damaged) refer to the fact that Friedrich Ulrich first had to prepare the St Jakob mine before pounds of silver could be elicited from the “lute” in addition to beautiful melodies. An inscription on the inside reads: SINE DEO NIHIL - FELICITER SUCCEDIT/Without God nothing has a happy ending. The word “succedit” is used with a subtle meaning, which normally means “to come up from below” and may refer to the ore that is extracted from the depths of the earth.

The two beautiful hexameters fit well with the numerous silver “yield coins” (Ausbeutemünzen) that Frederick Ulrich had minted in Zellerfeld or more likely in Goslar in 1625, but not with the presumably unique gold strike from a two-thaler die (Fig. 6). At 67 mm in diameter and 59.30 g (= 20 gold guilders), the gold minting weighs almost two ounces. This

observation makes it unlikely that it was a gift of friendship from Frederick Ulrich to an important peer. In such a case, Frederick Ulrich would not have been content with his coat of arms, but would have presented himself on horseback as on his lösers. Moreover, such a gift of gold would hardly have carried an inappropriate hexameter, which would have served to downgrade the value of the gift. Rather, it can be assumed that the scarce gold that was extracted as a by-product from the St Jakobus mine (around 1-2 g per tonne of rock) was minted for the prince and lord of the mine as a memento of his successful mining operation. Perhaps it was presented during a visit to the mine. We know this type of coinage from the Slovakian Erzgebirge mountains, where the Kremnica Mint minted giftand commemorative medals for the visits of Habsburg rulers “in fodinas Hungariae inferioris”, that is, in the mines of Lower Hungary (cf. R. Slotta and J. Labuda [eds.], "Bei diesem Schein kehrt Segen ein" (Blessings arrive with this gleam): Gold, Silber und Kupfer aus dem Slovakischen Erzgebirge, Bochum 1997, 192-195).

It cannot be determined how this unique gold minting came from the Duke’s possession into the collection of the Greifswald merchant and important coin collector Karl Friedrich Pogge (1752-1840) at the beginning of the 19th century. The gold piece then moved to the collection of mining expert Karl Vogelsang, who specialised in mining coins, before finally finding a home in the mining collection of the industrial corporation Preussag AG. It was published in the catalogue of this collection by Karl Müseler – the father of the well-known numismatist Wilhelm

Müseler, who died in 2023 – and was auctioned off as part of the entire collection by Künker and London Coin Galleries. This sale gave interested collectors access to rare coins that were missing from their collections. Collecting is enjoyable only if, from time to time, there is the opportunity to incorporate rare pieces into one’s collection for a certain period. This opportunity now exists once again for Friedrich Ulrich’s golden off-metal strike. Interested parties can find out more from Ulrich Künker (Ulrich.Kuenker@kuenker.de). Johannes Nollé

Fig. 4: G. Keller, portrait of Friedrich Ulrich, in: M.C. Lundorp, Östreichischer Lorberkrantz Oder Kayserl: Victori ..., Franckfurt am Main 1627.

Fig. 5: Yield coinage of two reichsthalers, 1625. Künker Auction 314, Lot 5248.

Fig. 6: Gold yield minting depicting St Jakob. Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Frederick Ulrich, 1613-1634.

Cilicia at the crossroads of the great empires –A cultural-historical look at some Cilician coins from the Sayar Collection

On 14 and 15 March, we had the honour and pleasure of auctioning off the first part of Dr Kaya Sayar’s magnificent collection of coins from Asia Minor. The collection was very well received by our customers: Three times the estimated price was realised. This was not surprising, as many parts of the collection contained rarities that will not come onto the market again so quickly. It is always advantageous for collectors to be able to associate the coins in their own collection with a major collector, and Dr Kaya Sayar was undoubtedly among them. It was sad for us that the learned collector passed away at the age of almost 91 a few weeks before the auction, and that we could not celebrate his and our successful auction together with him. Our sympathy goes out to his wife and children.

On the evening of 14 March, I gave a lecture entitled “Cilicia – au carrefour des empires” on the occasion of the auction of the first part of the Sayar collection in Osnabrück. I was able to introduce to our clients the Cilicia portion of the Sayar Collection and give them an idea of the cultural and historical significance of some of Dr Sayar’s excellent Cilician coins. “Au carrefour des empires”, i.e. “At the crossroads of empires” is the title of a book on Cilicia by the Armenian mathematician and historian Claude Mutafian. As an Armenian, Claude Mutafian knows what he is talking about: His people have repeatedly played a role in the history of Cilicia.

The name “Cilicia” means nothing to many of our contemporaries today. But we should remember that the Apostle Paul came from Tarsos in Cilicia, that Dioscorides of Anazarbos, the father of ancient pharmacy, was also a Cilician, and that Emperor Rothbart (Frederick I of Hohenstaufen) drowned in the Cilician River Saleph (i.e. Seleukeia/Silifke River; today Göksu) during his crusade in 1190. Perhaps some of us still remember the magnificent ship in which Liz Taylor, portraying Cleopatra, sailed into the harbour of the Cilician metropolis of Tarsos to seek out – and seduce – Marc Antony, played by Richard Burton. This also happened in Cilicia, in 41 BC to be precise.

Cilicia is divided into two parts (Fig. 1): The western part –“Rough” Cilicia (Cilicia Tracheia) – is mountainous; in it, the Tauros Mountains extend right up to the sea, and particularly violent thunderstorms often erupt over the mountains. In Hittite times, Rough Cilicia was therefore called Tarhuntaşşa, meaning “land of the (storm god) Tarhunt”. The eastern part of Cilicia – the plain of Cilicia (“Cilicia Pedias”, today Çukur Ova or “lowland plain”) –

consists of a wide and very fertile plain, which is framed to the west and north by the Tauros Mountains, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and to the east by the Amanos Mountains. The latter range separates Cilicia from Syria. In Hittite times, this landscape was called Kizzuwatna.

Around 1200 BC, as a result of the climate deterioration that continues to affect our planet, there was a migration of peoples during which the Hittite Empire – as well as the Mycenaean principalities of Greece – were overrun by tribes from the increasingly inhospitable north. The Hittite capital, Hattuşa (modern Boğazköy), was burnt down, and the Cilician regions of Tarhuntaşşa and Kizzuwatna were broken down into several small dominions after the fall of the Hittite superpower. Their small size, and probably also internal disputes, enabled the rulers of the Neo-Assyrian Empire to take control of and dominate Plain Cilicia and the eastern part of Rough Cilicia from around 850 to 661 BC (Fig. 2). They called Rough Cilicia “Hilakku”, and Plain Cilicia “Que”. The name Hilakku was eventually used by the Greeks in the form Kilikia for the entire landscape – that is, for both Rough- and Plain Cilicia.

Fig. 2: The extent of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as far as Rough Cilicia. Image: Wikipedia.

Fig. 1: Map of Asia Minor. Image: Caliniuc, Wikipedia.

In the Assyrian period, the Greeks advanced from the west to the coasts of Rough Cilicia, while the Phoenicians came from the east (from the so-called Levant) in order to expand their trade contacts to the west. Various Greek cities established bases and settlements in western Rough Cilicia (Fig. 3): The island state of Samos is said to have founded the cities of Nagidos and Kelenderis. Nagidos is already mentioned in Hittite texts as Nahita; consequently, the Greeks of Samos displaced or subjugated its Asia Minor population, who lived in the narrow coastal plain. In the case of the town of Soloi further east, several Greek founders are mentioned: settlers from the motherland Argos, those from the Rhodian Lindos, and finally Solon of Athens, who is said to have travelled there on one of his long journeys. Knowledge of the Greek founders of Aphrodisias and Holmoi has been lost in the course of several thousand years of history.

4: Stater of Nagidos.

Estimate: 500 euros, hammer price: 2,800 euros Künker Auction 402, Lot 455.

victims of Roman imperialism. As a result, pirates were able to gain a foothold in Rough Cilicia, and beginning in the last decades of the 2nd century BC threatened most of the Mediterranean as far as Italy. Their corsairs plundered merchant ships and sold the people on board as slaves. When the privateers finally kidnapped even the daughters of rich Roman aristocrats from villas in central Italy, the Romans intervened. They declared Cilicia a Roman military territory and launched several military attacks against the pirates. Only the brilliant general Pompey succeeded in first driving out the Armenian king Tigranes, who had occupied the plain of Cilicia; then, from 67-64 BC, Pompey put an end to piracy in the Mediterranean. He had the worst Cilician pirates crucified, while he settled the others in Cilician cities, such as Soloi, which was renamed Pompeiopolis after him.

3: Greek colonisation in Cilicia (JN after the sketch by E. Blumenthal, „Die altgriechische Siedlungskolonisation im Mittelmeerraum unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Südküste Kleinasiens“ [Tübinger Geographische Studien 10], Tübingen 1963, 108).

After the collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, a local Cilician dynasty was able to take over the rule of the plain of Cilicia. Several of the rulers were called Syennesis. This Cilician dynasty was no match for the Persians, who incorporated Cilicia into their empire around 547 BC. The region was forced to recognise the supremacy of the Persian “Great King”, pay tribute to him, and provide soldiers when needed. Cilicia became an important base for the Persians in securing their rule in the eastern Mediterranean by using the harbours there as naval bases. From there, they could easily advance westwards to Cyprus and the Levant.

Alexander the Great ended Persian rule in Cilicia with his victory at the Cilician town of Issos in 333 BC. Graduates of German grammar schools – where pupils were once taught an overview of world history rather than a subjective, moralising selection of individual events – still have the mnemonic ringing in their ears: “Three three three, Issoskeilerei”.

After the early death of Alexander the Great in Babylon in 323 BC, the Egyptian Ptolemaic kings and the Syrian Seleucid rulers fought over the possession of Cilicia. The Ptolemies regarded Cilicia as a peripheral zone of their eastern Mediterranean maritime empire; for the Seleucids it was a region of their Asia Minor/Syrian possessions bordering the eastern Mediterranean. Cilicia was of greater importance to the Seleucids, however, because it was close to their capital Antiocheia (today the

Turkish city of Antakya). After their victory over the Seleucid king Antiochus III in 198 BC, the Romans began to erode the power of all the Anatolian states and bring Asia Minor under their control. Not only the Seleucids, but also the kings of Pergamon and the rich island state of Rhodes became

In the early imperial period, Cilicia became a Roman province in its own right, and the Roman governor resided in Tarsos. After the Romans, the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) ruled over Cilicia. In the 7th century AD, the Arabs, who had become Muslim, took control of Cilicia, but Byzantium was able to reconquer it in the 10th century. After the Seljuks defeated the Byzantines at Mantzikert (Turkish: Malazgırt) in 1071, many Armenians fled to the plain of Cilicia and eventually founded the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia there. In 1375, the Armenians were defeated by the Egyptian Mamluks and in 1515, Cilicia became part of the Ottoman Empire. After a brief period of French administration from 1919 to 1921, Cilicia and Antakya were incorporated into the Turkish Republic founded by Atatürk.

Dr Kaya Sayar’s collection includes coins that illustrate the history of Cilicia up to the creation of the Roman imperial province of Cilicia. It is worth going into some of the most beautiful and interesting of them in more detail, and highlighting their historical and cultural significance. A stater from Nagidos, rare in this state of preservation, shows the goddess Aphrodite seated on a throne (Fig. 4). The backrest and footstool distinguish the throne from a stool, which is often depicted on coins as the seating furniture of the gods. Aphrodite appears enthroned and clothed only in early Greek art. In later iconography, she freely displays the charms of her naked body. On the Nagidos coin, she is clothed in a robe (chiton) made of a fine, thin fabric that wraps around her body in many folds. Aphrodite wears a crown of the gods (polos) on her head. She wears a necklace and her wrists are adorned with bracelets. The goddess is crowned by a winged Nike (a female personification of victory corresponding to the Roman Victoria). In Greek iconography, the crowning by Nike indicates that the crowned one is the leading city goddess. Even on coins from the imperial period, leading city goddesses – e.g., Artemis Ephesia and Artemis Leukophryéne (“Artemis with white eyebrows”) from Magnesia on the Meander – are crowned with a wreath by one or two Nikes (Figs. 5 and 6). Christians have adopted this tradition for Mary. In the Christian tradition the mother of Jesus, who ascended to heaven with body and soul, is crowned either by the Trinity, by Jesus, or by angels. The latter is an ancient pictorial tradition that was revived in the Renaissance. This can be seen, for example, in a painting by the Flemish painter Simon Pereyns (ca. 1535-1589), who lived and worked in the New World after Cortéz’s conquest of Mexico. In a painting Pereyns created in 1569, Mary is crowned by two winged beings – Christians call them angels, “messengers of God” – like the ancient city goddesses. The painting once adorned the cathedral in Mexico City, which was dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, until it was completely destroyed in a fire in 1967 (Fig. 7).

Fig.

Fig.

Fig. 5: Bronze coin from Magnesia on a meander, period of Marcus Aurelius: Artemis Leucophryene is crowned by two nikes, two birds of prey at her feet. CNG ElAuct 289, 24.10.2012, Lot 13.

Fig. 6: Bronze coin from Ephesus, time of Antoninus Pius: Nike crowning Artemis of Ephesus, the city tyrant of Ephesus standing to her right. Ephesus, recognisable by her mural crown, sacrifices to Artemis with a patera. Image: Roma 17, 28 March 2019, Lot 647.

On the first stater of Nagidos shown (Fig. 4), a rose sprouts up in front of Aphrodite. The ancient world did not know the countless varieties of roses that can be found in our gardens and parks today. Ancient roses were more like our hedge roses, with five sepals (Fig. 10) as can be seen on the coin of Nagidos. According to an ancient myth, the rose played a major role in the judgement of Paris. Before the beauty contest in which the Trojan king’s son Paris was to decide whether Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite was the most beautiful, there was a dispute between the goddesses because Hera and Athena demanded that Aphrodite remove her belt. This belt supposedly contained magical powers that attracted every man and made them fall in love with her. Aphrodite agreed, but demanded

The Aphrodite depicted on the beautiful stater of Nagidos is holding a sacrificial bowl in her outstretched right hand. It can be clearly seen that it is a bowl with a kind of navel in the centre (omphalos bowl). It was used, among other things, to pour incense onto the sacrificial fire and to sprinkle flour over the forehead of the sacrificial animals before they were killed. The sacrificial bowl (patera) in the hand of a deity is a reminder that, according to Greek belief, the gods themselves had arranged the sacrifice in their own honour, and used it to show people how and what they should sacrifice. Another stater from Nagidos shows Aphrodite pouring or scattering a sacrifice over an altar with a patera (Fig. 8). Thus it was nothing unusual for Jesus to have instituted the sacrifice in his own memory before his death at the Last Supper (Fig. 9), nor for Christians to follow suit at every mass due to his divine direction.

that she be allowed to wear a headdress in the beauty contest – with the same right that Hera had to wear a golden diadem and Athena a helmet. The two competitors gave their approval, and Aphrodite then roamed the meadows of the Ida Mountains. She returned to the competition with a wreath of roses on her head, which won over the judge Paris, especially as she had also promised him the most beautiful mortal woman. All of this must have gone through the minds of the ancients when they received a silver stater from Nagidos and saw the rose bush sprouting before Aphrodite. For the Greeks, “rose” was also used as a somewhat suggestive euphemism for the female genitalia. In the case of the rose, too, Mary is an heiress of Aphrodite. She was sometimes referred to as the “Mystic/Mysterious Rose” or the “Rose without Thorns”. In a famous picture painted by Stefan Lochner around the middle of the 15th century, Mary sits with

the infant Jesus in the “Rosenhag” or rose arbour (Fig. 11). The animal sitting under the throne of Aphrodite of Nagidos and gnawing on a vine (Fig. 4) has been the subject of much debate among numismatists. It cannot be a rabbit, but must be a mouse or vole, as the ears are quite small. Mice gnaw at the ripe grapes and thus create a breeding ground for harmful fungi that spoil the wine. Voles and shrews (Fig. 12) eat the roots of the vines, causing them to die. Ancient agricultural literature repeatedly mentions “plagues of mice” in vineyards and possible preventive measures. Rodents had an easy time of it in the ancient world, as winegrowers very often did not tie up the vines but rather allowed them to “creep” along the ground (Fig. 13), preventing them from drying out so quickly. For Nagidos – a colony of the island of Samos, whose wine was famous – viticulture was obviously very important. The god of wine, Dionysus, is depicted on the reverse of the Aphrodite statue, holding a large bunch of grapes in his hand (Figs. 4 and 8). An amphora and a krater (mixing jug) can be seen on the front and back of a silver obol from Nagidos (Fig. 14). The amphora refers to the importance of wine exports from Nagidos, the krater to the joint banquets

Fig. 7: Simon Pereyns/Perez (*1535 in Antwerp; †1589 Puebla): Coronation of Mary by two angels. Photo: Wikipedia.

Fig. 9: The Institution of the Sacrifice by Jesus: Leonardo da Vinci, L'Ultima Cena, Milan in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, 1494-1497. Photo: Wikipedia.

Fig. 11: Stefan Lochner, Madonna in the Rose Garden, Cologne, Walraff Richards Museum, ca. 1448. Photo: Wikipedia.

Fig. 8: Aphrodite of Nagidos sacrificing with offering bowl above an altar. Estimate: 500 euros, hammer price: 1900 euros Auction 402, Lot 451.

Fig. 10: Dog rose. Photo: JN.

of the citizens of Nagidos as part of the worship of Dionysus, the god of wine. Another coin shows the head of a horse-eared satyr belonging to the retinue of the god of wine, whose head is depicted on the other side of the coin (Fig. 15). The coins of Nagidos thus demonstrate how important wine-growing was for the Cilician town of Nagidos. It is therefore not surprising that its citizens sought the help of the divine city goddess Aphrodite, and sacrificed to her, so that they might be spared plagues of mice. Coins from the city have preserved the memory of this tradition to this day, and show us the worries of the ancient winegrowers about their harvests.

Other Cilician coins in the Sayar collection are just as interesting. A stater from Kelenderis (Fig. 16), another city founded by the people of Samos, depicts on its obverse an agile horseman sliding down from his mount, and on the reverse a wild goat native to the eastern Tauros Mountains (Fig. 17). As there is no inscription, the exact identification of the rider is difficult. Another coin from Kelenderis, in value a division of the stater, helps further. It shows that the horse is sometimes depicted with wings (Fig. 18). It can therefore be assumed that the horse depicted is the magic horse Pegasos (originally from Asia Minor) which is sometimes shown with wings – emphasising its speed – and sometimes without wings. His rider can therefore be identified with the Greek hero Bellerophon, about whom myths circulated in many places on the southern coast of Asia Minor: He fought all kinds of monsters there and founded Greek cities –long before the Greeks from Argos, Samos and Rhodes advanced

as far as Cilicia in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. In Kelenderis, if we interpret the picture correctly, Bellerophon may have used his swift horse to fight the nimble wild goats that were devouring the Kelenderites’ fields. The successful control of agricultural pests such as wild boars and wild goats was an important prerequisite for the foundation of a city.

Cilicia is an extremely interesting region in this connection because not only Greek cities, but also Persian satraps repeatedly had silver coins minted there. The Persian governors needed them to recruit mercenaries and pay them for their participation in certain military campaigns. In some cases we can link the coins, which were probably mostly minted in Tarsos, to specific campaigns. The Persians made history with their coinage

Estimate: 300

insofar as they began to put the portraits and names of Persian rulers on the coins they minted. For example, the Persian satrap Datames (378-372 BC) had himself depicted in Persian costume examining an arrow (Fig. 19), and on another stater offering a sacrifice to the Babylonian god Anu (Fig. 20). For a long time, Greek mint masters reserved the coin images for their leading deities and those deities’ symbols, and living people were never depicted on them. It was not until the Hellenistic period, when the Greeks adopted many things from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, that the Hellenistic kings began to place their own portraits on the money they produced, following the Persian example. Alexander was still hesitant to do this.

Estimate: 150 euros, hammer price: 2,400 euros Künker Auction

This first part of the Sayar Collection includes only coins from southern Asia Minor. The second part will be dedicated to those from the remainder of Asia Minor. Again the second part contains a considerable number of extremely rare coins, and the Künker auction house is delighted to offer its customers the opportunity to bid for pieces from this prominent collection.

Johannes Nollé

Fig. 20: Silver stater of Datames with Baaltars on the obverse and the satrap before Anu on the reverse.

402, Lot 485.

Fig. 19: Silver stater of Datames with Baaltars on the obverse and the arrow-inspecting satrap on the reverse.

euros, hammer price: 1,500 euros Künker Auction 402, Lot 488.

Fig. 18: Silver obol from Kelenderis with depictions of a winged Pegasus protome and a wild goat.

Estimate: 50 euros, hammer price: 80 euros Künker Auction 402, Lot 428.

Fig. 17: A wild goat from Asia Minor. Photo: Alexander Malkhasyan, Wikipedia.

Fig. 14: Amphora and krater on a silver obol from Nagidos. Estimate: 75 euros, hammer price: 240 euros Künker Auction 402, Lot 450.

Fig. 16: Stater from Kelenderis depicting Bellerophon and Pegasus on the obverse and a wild goat on the reverse.

Estimate: 1,000 euros, hammer price: 1,400 euros Künker Auction 402, Lot 426.

Fig. 15: Satyr and Dionysus on a silver obol from Nagidos. Estimate: 125 euros, hammer price: 110 euros Künker Auction 402, Lot 447.

Fig. 12: Schermaus. Photo: Adrian Pingstone, Wikipedia.

Fig. 13b: Creeping training of vines. Sketch by Karl Bauer, Wikipedia.

Fig. 13a: Ground-creeping grapes on Santorini. Photo: Stan Zurek, Wikipedia.

Important numismatic congress held in Antalya, Turkey

The great progress in the development of Turkish numismatics is due above all to one scholar: Professor Dr Oğuz Tekin (Fig. 1). Dr Tekin not only founded the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum Turkey, but has also published a considerable number of volumes in a short time with the help of his students. The volumes of the Sylloge Turkey have made many thousands of coins in Turkish museums accessible. This work is particularly important because gaining access to the rich coin collections in Turkish museums can often be very difficult for both Turkish and foreign researchers.

Oğuz Tekin could not have done this work alone. Because he is aware of this, he has introduced numerous students to numismatics and supervised the completion of their doctorates. We should mention Sencan Özbilge Altınoluk, to whom we owe the existence of a beautiful corpus of the coins of Hypaipa (now Ödemiş); Aliye Erol, who worked on the coins of Perge and received her doctorate with a thesis on the coins found in Perge; İnci Türkoğlu, who works in epigraphy and numismatics; and finally, Remziye Boyraz Seyhan, who has just completed her doctoral thesis with a well-annotated corpus of the coins of Seleukeia at Kalykadnos (now Silifke). It is impressive to see how Oğuz Bey has given women in Turkish numismatics good opportunities to prove their capabilities, and to make the previously very male-oriented discipline more feminine.

Oğuz Tekin is also the founder of the Corpus Ponderum Antiquorum et Islamicorum. He is particularly interested in the long-neglected field of market weights, which were so important for the economic life of the ancient world. In many of his numerous publications, he has presented studies on the connection between coin images and the depictions on these weights. It is worthwhile for coin collectors to take note of these studies in order to better understand the backgrounds, and especially the images, of the coins they collect.

Finally, Oğuz Tekin is also a professor of numismatics at the renowned Koç University, and the Director of the important Research Centre for Mediterranean Cultures (AKMED) at Koç University/Suna & İnan Kıraç Foundation. This institute has already produced a number of important publications, is the sponsor of the high-quality journal ‘Adalya’, and organises conventions that primarily serve to bring together Turkish scholars of antiquity with their colleagues from abroad. Many a meaningful cooperative relationship also beneficial to numismatic research has been established at such congresses.

One such congress was the ‘Third International Congress on the History of Money and Numismatics in the Mediterranean World’, which AKMED hosted in Antalya from 1-4 April 2024. Turkish hospitality at such gatherings continues to be unrivalled – and this at a time when money has become scarce in Turkey, where foreign researchers repeatedly gain the impression that they are still appreciated. AKMED puts to shame the European and American organisers of such humanities congresses, where one has come to expect only the most meagre hospitality offerings, with the promoters demanding ever greater contributions from the participants out of their own pockets.

The Antalya convention was extremely well organised, not least thanks to the thorough preparations by Dr Remziye Boyraz Seyhan. Dr Seyhan supervises the AKMED library, one of the leading ancient studies libraries in Turkey. At the meeting, the

Turkish hosts managed to ensure that all speakers kept to their allotted 20 minutes of speaking time, so that the programme went exactly according to plan.

Oğuz Tekin had once again managed to persuade many well-known experts to take part in the congress. There was a black joke going around that if this group of numismatists were buried in an earthquake, scientific numismatics in the field of antiquity would have lost about 60% of its best scholars (Fig. 2). However, Oğuz Tekin had invited not only established researchers to the gathering, but also carefullyselected young, up-and-coming scholars. This gave these young guests the opportunity to present their research and methodological approaches, to familiarise themselves with the older and more experienced researchers and – for those among them who were Turkish – to explore opportunities for a stay at institutes abroad.

The well-considered selection of the participants invited to this event meant that the more than 40 contributions were, almost without exception, of high quality. The numismatics of Asia Minor took centre stage, which was due not only to the fact that the programme was held in Turkey. Asia Minor is the homeland of the coin, and in this melting pot of cultures there was a rich and diverse coinage that reflected regional and local identities like hardly any other region of the Mediterranean – and is therefore of the greatest historical significance.

I will mention only a few thematic groups and speakers from the lectures given. This selection should not be understood as a judgement on quality, but merely as an incentive to form one’s own opinion soon: The printed volume on the congress, which will probably be presented by Oğuz Tekin/AKMED within a year, will offer the opportunity to do so. The participants were obliged to submit their presentations by the end of May, so that the preparation for the event’s documentation could begin quickly. Like the live presentations, all contributions were required to be written in English.

A first focus of the congress was databases, which are becoming increasingly important for rapid access to existing material and thus for advances in numismatics. Among other contributions, François de Callataÿ’s lecture on a counterstamp database (GOD = Greek Overstrikes Database) and Leah Lazar’s thoughts regarding a database on Anatolian small change should be mentioned. The realisation of a database compiling the coins found during excavations in Turkey should also be extremely useful (Zeynep Çizmeli Öğün & Koray Konuk). The most ambitious project described was that of Chris Howgego, who wants to catalogue and make accessible all coin hoards from the time of the Roman Empire.

A series of lectures was devoted to individual coins or coin types from the archaic, classical, and Hellenistic periods: Carian, Samian and Pisidian coins, as well as coins and weights from the Troad and Thrace were discussed and categorised in larger contexts. Annalisa Polosa’s illuminating lecture on the role of Itanos in the context of Cretan coinage, Ömer Tatar’s well-founded and erudite contribution on the finds and coinage of Ptolemaic coins in Pamphylia, and

Fig. 1: Professor Dr Oğuz Tekin and his student Dr Sencan Özbilge Altınoluk. Photo: JN.

Fig. 2: Group photo of the participants at the Third International Congress on the History of Money and Numismatics of the Mediterranean

Ute Wartenberg’s interesting and daring attempt to link a previously unlocalised series of staters with the Carian town of Idyma, should also be mentioned here.

Contributions by Tolga Tek (on coin finds in Tripoli on the Meander), Aliye Erol (coins of Kyzikos from the excavations of Daskyleion) and Jaroslaw Bodzek (excavation coins from Nea Paphos) were dedicated to coin circulation and the economic conclusions that can be drawn from it.

Hüseyin Köker presented three small but very interesting sigloi finds from the Burdur Museum. İnci Türkoğlu raised hopes for a corpus of the coins of Lydian Philadelpheia. Philadelpheia in Lydia, today’s Alaşehir, was one of the most important cities in Lydia in antiquity. It would be welcome if, following the archaeological research by Recep Meriç and the epigraphic corpus by Georg Petzl,

we could now also have a fully-developed numismatic city corpus. However, following the publication of the Lydian corpora by Pierre-Olivier Hochard and Dane Kuhrt, such a corpus would have to offer a ‘numismatic city history’, taking into account the relevant literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence.

The congress also focussed on studies of iconographic topics: Chris Lightfoot lectured on coins with depictions of Dioscorus; Achim Lichtenberger improved our understanding of the city coinage of Tyre in the third century; Fabrice Delrieux undertook an in-depth study of the early imperial coinage of Mylasa à la Louis Robert; and Ulrike Peter gave a masterly lecture on the motif of the seated Heracles on Thracian coins. I myself focussed on the depictions of giants on coins from Asia Minor, and raised the question of the background to the frieze of giants on the Pergamon Altar.

Künker Numismatic Scholarship Promotion: Two volumes on numismatics

In the past few weeks, two volumes have been published (in German) in the “Nomismata” series by the Bonn-based Habelt publishing house, which has a very good reputation for scientific literature. One of these volumes, Nomismata 14, contributes to the understanding of ancient coin images and the other, Nomismata 13.1, provides new insights into the history of coin collecting. The publication of both volumes was supported with printing subsidies as part of our academic funding programme.

The book by the well-known numismatist Dr Ursula Kampmann „Die Briefe des Herrn von Schellenberg an Johann Jakob Rüeger. Ein entlarvendes Selbstzeugnis vom Niedergang eines gebildeten Reichsritters und Münzsammlers“ (The Letters of Herr von Schellenberg to Johann Jakob Rüeger: A revealing testimony of the decline of an educated imperial knight and coin collector) describes the everyday life of coin collectors around 1600 on the basis of 150 of Schellenberg’s letters. They contain a wealth of details: how, where, and for what price a coin collector bought and stored his coins. They give us an insight into the network of contacts that existed between coin collectors, and help us to understand the role of numismatics in the life of a minor aristocrat. This is a very elaborate editorial work of Early New High German texts with translation into contemporary German. To bring such an extensive and highly complex project to a successful conclusion is a great achievement that deserves applause. The correspondence between the learned Schaffhausen chronicler and priest Johann Jakob Rüeger (1548-1606) and the imperial knight Reichsritter Hans von Schellenberg (1551-1609) is an important contribution to the history of coin collecting in the early modern period, and provides numerous new perspectives on this subject. The full value of this book will be realised when the commentary volume, already in progress, is published in the near future.

Dr. Ursula Kampmann

gehört zu den weltweit

profiliertesten Numis-

Dr Sonya Langerholc’s book „Einer Mutter Macht und Grenzen. Fallstudien zu den Einflüssen antiker Frauen auf ihre politisch prominenten Söhne” (“A Mother’s Power and Limits: Case Studies on the Influence of Ancient Women on their Politically Prominent Sons”) deals with the mother-son pairs Olympias and Alexander, Cornelia and the two Gracchi, Livia and Tiberius, Agrippina and Nero, and finally Helena and Constantine. The author has skilfully incorporated the numismatic sources, where they exist, into her analysis of the often knotty and fraught mother-son relationships. Despite a very careful, in-depth and prudent discussion of the historical circumstances and the extensive research literature, the book is very readable and can therefore also be highly recommended for coin collectors who have coins with Livia, Agrippina and Helena in their collections. Fortunately, it steers clear of ideologically-preconceived gender concepts. Frau Langerholc’s book shows why the aforementioned ladies appear on coins, and what their appearance was intended to convey to those who possessed these coins. In addition to its content, the book’s extremely tasteful design – with an exquisite illustrated section – practically invites you to buy it.

Both volumes are available in our online shop. We look forward to your orders.

Dr Ursula Kampmann is one of the world’s most distinguished numismatists. Künker customers have long known her as the author of works such as the Künker Festschrift and the treatise on the history of the Hamburger-Schlessinger dynasty of coin dealers.

Ursula Kampmann has received numerous international awards for her ability to present complex subjects in a comprehensible form. With the Schellenberg Letters, she has published a scholarly project on which she worked for well over a decade.

In terms of historical periods, the congress went beyond antiquity – with Ceren Ünal presenting coins of the Trapezunt Empire, and Betül and Gültekin Teoman giving the results of their research on coins of the Beylik of Aydınoğulları (the principality of the Aydın dynasty).

To sum up, let me say that Oğuz Tekin’s event in Antalya was one of the best-organised, most academically productive- and most atmospherically positive numismatic conventions I have attended in recent years. It was an event which no one who attended will soon forget.

Johannes Nollé

Dr Ursula Kampmann

Order the volumes here Nomismata 13.1, „Die Briefe des Herrn von Schellenberg an Johann Jakob Rüeger“ and Nomismata 14, „Einer Mutter Macht und Grenzen“

Numismatic Collections Around the World: The Gotland Museum

Have you ever dreamed of discovering a treasure island? There is one in northern Europe: the island of Gotland. You can marvel at its treasures in the Gotland

T

he nearest treasure island is just about 600 miles from the Künker auction house in Osnabrück! We are talking about the Swedish island of Gotland, which in the 8th century AD developed into a trading hub linking northern Europe with the urban centers of the Middle East. Beeswax, wood, and animal skins were not only highly popular in Miklagard – as the northerners called the city of Constantinople. And as Muslim armies and fleets blocked traditional trade routes, goods were exchanged between northern Europe and Asia on Russian rivers, which were easily accessible from Scandinavia via the Baltic Sea. In this process, Gotland became an important trading center for all kinds of goods.

And there is more: Gotland was also home to many manufacturers of goods that were urgently needed by seafarers. It was here that tar and rope were produced, beer brewed and dried cod prepared. Of course, the people of Gotland were not the only ones to produce these goods – but it was the only island without feudal lords, who were in control of all other places in central and northern Europe at the time. So, on Gotland, nobody took away the farmers’ surplus. And nobody prevented them from trading in their own goods. That is why many enterprising peasants loaded up a ship with their goods, hired a crew and took to the sea. They sold whatever they produced. And, perhaps, a different opportunity presented itself. Although the Vikings were not as bad as their reputation, they certainly did not mind “increasing their income” whenever they saw an opportunity.

When they returned, their ships brought large quantities of silver to Gotland; and a farmer had no use for so much silver in his daily life. Gotland was a subsistence economy where people

produced themselves what they needed to live. Therefore, the silver brought back from the last trip was buried in the ground –and that is why these lost treasures can still be found in Gotland’s soil today.

Most treasures were buried between the 9th and 11th centuries. At first they were distributed evenly over the whole island, and from 1075 they were more concentrated along the coast.

Some people do not like archaeological hoards to be called treasures. In the case of Gotland, however, you simply cannot do without this term. The island has a size of just one square mile and hoards containing nearly 180,000 coins have been found to date. And it is quite possible that this figure is already out of date, as new hoards are being found all the time.

A Child of the Early National Movement

While most of the early hoards found on Gotland are on display in the Gold Room of the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm, all new hoards are brought to the Gotland Museum, which was founded in 1875 on the initiative of Per Magnus Arvid Säve.

The history of this museum is quite typical for a local museum. It was established at a time when, after the end of aristocratic rule, civil nation-states were being formed. At that time, everyone was busy thinking about their identity, and a crucial part of this identity was, of course, one’s past.

Therefore, Per Magnus Arvid Säve, the son of a pastor, first studied classical studies in Uppsala. But instead of studying the Iliad or Roman buildings, he applied what he had learned to the past of his own region: Säve studied the old language of Gotland, collected the island’s myths and all the ancient objects from the region. The Swedish state created the position of curator of antiquities on Gotland for this enthusiastic collector. From then on, he was allowed to do on behalf of the state what he had previously done for himself. Säve became the center of a group of Gotland citizens. Together with them, he founded a historical society, and then the Gotland Museum, which was initially based on the founders’ private collections. Today the museum collects everything that illustrates Gotland’s history and is in need of museum care. This includes coin hoards, a topic that several rooms of the museum are dedicated to.

The Spillings Hoard

Museum.

Fig. 1-3: The Spillings Hoard was buried in two different places, ten feet apart, and contained 67 kilos of metal. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a Viking house above it. The hoard is dated to around 870. Photo: KW.

The Gotlands Museum in Visby. Photo: Wikipedia, Helen Simonsson.

The Spillings Hoard is probably the most impressive exhibit in the Gotland Museum – it is the largest silver treasure from the Viking period ever found anywhere in the world. It weighs a staggering 67 kilos and contains 14,000 coins, most of them Islamic. As Islamic dirhems can be precisely dated, we know when the treasure was buried, after 870/71.

overwhelming for visitors. We would like to give you an idea of how much the hoard was worth at the time it was buried: with this money, Gotland could have paid all its taxes to the Swedish king for five

almost found live while a camera crew was filming. At the time, the Swedish broadcaster TV4 was making a documentary about Gotland’s coin hoards. They had rented a metal detector and were assisted by archaeologist Jonas Ström. Incidentally, the internationally renowned numismatist Kenneth Jonsson was also on site. They recommended that the TV team film at the Spillings farm, as coins had turned up there time and time again. When the team had finished filming and left the farm, the scholars decided to take the metal detector and check out the site for themselves – just 20 minutes later, they heard the signal telling them that they had found the first of what turned out to be three hoards. A few hours later, they found a second hoard. That was too much for the detector, says Jonas Ström: “The display said ‘overload’ and then the device just turned off.” An archaeological excavation was carried out immediately, which is why the Spillings Hoard was unearthed by a team of experts complying with archaeological standards.

In addition to the two silver treasures, another hoard of 20 kilos of bronze was discovered later. It is of little interest to numismatists as it contained no coins. For archaeologists, on the other hand, this third hoard is truly unique: after all, there are far fewer bronze hoards than silver hoards on Gotland.

Stavar’s Treasure

My personal favorite is the story of Stavar’s Treasure, and to tell it, we have to go back to 1880. At the time,

a somewhat drunk Gotlander called Göran staggered out of the local pub. All of a sudden – as he would tell again and again – a Viking covered in blood appeared in front of him holding a large axe. Göran was frightened, but the ghost calmed him down: It said that it was his ancestor named Stavar. He died fighting against the Norwegian Viking Erik Jarl and did not live to tell his children about the secret of his treasure. So now he wants to show it to Göran. You can imagine that Göran was sobered up in the blink of an eye. However, he was cautious to proceed. He did not want to have Stavar’s treasure, because he believed that it was tainted with evil. So he politely declined. The ghost called Stavar praised him for his decision, gave him some coins from the hoard and promised to try again with Göran’s descendants.

We can well imagine that Göran’s descendants cursed him for his modesty for a long time to come. And when they sold the Stavgard estate in the 1950s, they included a clause stating that

Fig. 4: Stavar’s Treasure. Photo: KW.

Fig. 5: Hoard of Hogrän from the 4th century A.D. It contained ornamental bracteates and rings in a bronze vessel. Next to it were 200 heavily worn Roman denarii. Photo: KW.

Fig. 8: Model of the port of Visby. Photo: KW.

Fig. 7: Image stones recorded the long journeys of Gotland’s farmers. Similar stones were placed all over the island to commemorate the deceased warriors. This stone depicts the passage of the deceased to Valhalla in a sailing ship. Photo: KW.

Fig. 6: Gold bracteate from the 5th century AD from the Lojsta Hoard. Photo: KW.

Fig. 9: Model of a typical farmstead. Photo: KW.

they had the right to claim Stavar’s treasure if it ever turned up.

It was only in 1975 that the treasure was found by playing schoolchildren. But was this hoard really Stavar’s treasure? We may well doubt that. There are so many treasures buried on Gotland that it is quite likely that one of them will be found on your land.

The End of Gotland’s Wealth

Just as impressive as the large treasures are the testimonies to the Battle of Visby in 1361. To us, this battle is of importance because it put an end to the many coin hoards.

Let us remember: the reason why Gotland’s farmers became rich was that there were no feudal lords on the island. In this way, Gotland’s farmers put themselves in a position of potential competition with the merchants of Visby, the main city of Gotland. After all, the merchants would have liked to unite all the island’s trade business behind their city walls.

When the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag tried to take control of Gotland, he attacked Visby. But the townspeople barricaded themselves behind the city walls and let the farmers fight the battle. Farmers fighting the Danish king’s soldiers – no prizes for

guessing who won the battle. Our imagination is stimulated by the many exhibits in the Gotland Museum. There are the remains of Gotland’s farmers, pierced by arrows, with their limbs cut off and their skulls split open. While half of the male population was slaughtered outside Visby, the citizens watched and waited.

They negotiated an agreement with Valdemar Atterdag, while his soldiers plundered and burned down the farmsteads in the countryside. Visby’s merchants thought that this would get rid of their competitors.

But they forgot about the fact that goods need to be produced before they can be sold and traded. Once those who produce them are dead, there is nothing left to make a profit on. And this is how Gotland lost its position as a trading hub and important economic center in the Baltic Sea. It should also be mentioned that by this time the trade routes had begun to shift again. Dr. Ursula Kampmann

Numismatic classroom Transfer of Dr Kemlein’s card index to the Dresden Coin Cabinet

Y

ounger guests with an interest in coins were among those who attended this year’s Future Day event on 25 April 2024. Fifteen-year-old Luisa Möller from Keppler Gymnasium prep school in Ibbenbüren, who had already helped us out previously in the Dispatch Department; eleven-year-old Josefina Schraad from Liebfrauenschule in Vechta; and thirteen-year-old Elias Hüttl from Angelaschule in Osnabrück spent their Future Day at the Fritz Rudolf Künker coin auction house. Luisa already collects euro coins, and Elias even collects silver coins from old Germany. Josefine came at the behest of her bagpipe teacher Marie Niemann, a college student who is helping us out with ancient numismatics. Under the expert guidance of Dr Martin Ziegert, the students were introduced to the identification process for imperial, old German, and ancient Roman coins. They also took advantage of the opportunity to work puzzles with coins together online. At the end of the programme, the pupils were sent home richly endowed.

Following the successful auction of the first part of the collection “Saxonia in Nummis – Die Sammlung Dr Walter Kemlein” (Auction 368 on 20 June 2022), we received the sad news of the death of our consignor in August 2022. This raised the question of what should happen to the index cards that Dr Kemlein had given us to process the collection. The index documents around 3,000 coins and medals from Saxony and Dresden with related market aspects and prices, and is therefore a valuable resource for trade, research and collectors.

After our eLive Premium Auction 389 on 24 June 2023, we received numerous enquiries from collectors who were aware of the existence of the card index. We realised that we could not simply pass this card index into private hands. We were therefore delighted that the new Director of the Münzkabinett in Dresden, Dr Sylvia Karges, agreed to give the card index a new home in the Münzkabinett library there. It was also important to us that not only academics, but also collectors and dealers should also be able to access the information in the card index. The official handover of the Kemlein card index to the Coin Cabinet of the Dresden State Art Collections took place on 25 April, with numerous collectors in attendance.

Dr Sylvia Karges and Prof. Dr Wilhelm Hollstein from the Dresden Coin Cabinet received the index cards as a gift. “I am very pleased that we are able to contribute to the research work at the Münzkabinett with the information carefully compiled by Dr Kemlein,” said Ulrich Künker at the ceremony in Dresden.

Imprint

Publisher

Fritz Rudolf Künker

GmbH & Co. KG Nobbenburger Straße 4a 49076 Osnabrück service@kuenker.de www.kuenker.de

Editors Julia Kröner, Inja MacClure

Typesetting and layout

Helge Lewandowsky

Responsilble according to press law

Ulrich Künker

Dr Martin Ziegert with Elias, Luisa and Josefina, the pupils visiting on Future Day. Photo: Künker.

Dr Sylvia Karges and Prof Dr Wilhelm Hollstein with Ulrich Künker.

Matthias Grimm, Chairman of the Dresden Numismatic Society, also thanks Ulrich Künker for the index cards.

Fig. 10: A victim of the Battle of Visby: three arrows pierced the skull, which was also hit with an axe. Photo: KW.

Fig. 11: Another victim: this man’s feet were cut off with a single stroke.

Photo: KW.

This QR code will take you to the English website of the Gotland Museum.