Nurnburg Imperial Free City View Thaler

[JamminJ]

Hello everyone,

 

Here's a coin I bought at the recent Long Beach show, a 1765 Nurnburg thaler, KM350:

And a detail of the city view:

 

Nurnburg is a city in central Germany probably best known these days for the Nazi war crime trials held there at the close of the Second World War. However, back when this coin was made it was an Imperial Free city which means it ran its own internal affairs but paid tax to the Holy Roman Empire (mostly river tolls) which in turn handled foreign policy. The imperial suzerainty is shown by the double headed Hapsburg eagle on the with Joseph II as emperor. Interestingly enough, the shots were really called by Joseph's mother Maria Theresa but since only a man could be emperor his early ascension represented a fruitful compromise. Both mother and son were extremely able rulers.

 

In the Imperial Diet Nurnburg was one of a few representatives of the commercial class, the Diet being dominated by the landed aristocracy and the ecclesiastic lords. In 1806 during Napoleon's reorganization of Germany (also the year of the demise of the Empire) the city became part of Bavaria where it remains.

 

This coin is very popular at the JamminJ household as my wife loves the city views and I love the Imperial regalia. The "eye of god" keeps looks over the city and the initials S.R. at the bottom are those of the mint officials Scholz and Riedner. The edge is lettered with the legend "SERVA DOMINE CON PACE IN PACE" but I don't know the translation but probably something like "Serve the Lord in Peace."

 

Comments are welcome,

-JamminJ

 

 

 

 

[TJ]

Nice! What's the year again?

[JamminJ]

Nice! What's the year again?

 

Oops, 1765. Thanks TJ, corrected in the original post.

 

-JamminJ

[truthteller]

Ok JamminJ, here's the challenge!

 

Of the next 10 coins you buy, one of them has to be of an area of the world you have visited. Say you bought the Nurnberg thaler, have you visited there? Once you accept this challenge, you have to give a synopsis of the trip you took. No fair buying a Santa Ana, Ca token, it's got to be a real coin. Do you accept the challenge.??

 

 

 

TRUTH

[TJ]

Nice! What's the year again?

 

Oops, 1765. Thanks TJ, corrected in the original post.

 

-JamminJ

Glad to be of service. *(send thank-you coin)*

 

Any silver in that beauty?

[gmarguli]

The edge is lettered with the legend "SERVA DOMINE CON PACE IN PACE" but I don't know the translation but probably something like "Serve the Lord in Peace."

 

Servant Tames Some with Peace in Peace.

[Wihlborg]

Very nice coin JJ, I really like the city view side! I would love to see an mint state example of this issue, as I think the detail of the design must have been wonderful.

 

John

 

[JamminJ]

Of the next 10 coins you buy, one of them has to be of an area of the world you have visited. Say you bought the Nurnberg thaler, have you visited there? Once you accept this challenge, you have to give a synopsis of the trip you took. No fair buying a Santa Ana, Ca token, it's got to be a real coin. Do you accept the challenge.??

 

I've never neen to Nurnburg, or Europe of that matter, but I accept the challenge.

I promise it will not be a Philadelphia mint statehood quarter.

 

-JamminJ

[JamminJ]

Any silver in that beauty?

 

Yup, the catalog just says "silver" so I'm not sure of the fineness of this guy. Depending on the local economy, wars and currency devaluations the fineness seems to peak around 0.930 and can go way, way down.

 

-JamminJ

[shirohniichan]

Very nice indeed.

 

I'd like to get me one of them thar 1560's Geneva talers, btut I don't have a grand to drop on a Fine coin. Geneva's motto is "Post tenebras lux" (Light after darkness). I've never been to Geneva, though, truthteller.

[JamminJ]

Very nice coin JJ, I really like the city view side! I would love to see an mint state example of this issue, as I think the detail of the design must have been wonderful.

 

John

 

There are quite a few uncirculated city view thalers in the Smithsonian, worth a look if you're in the neighborhood. Even my wife said "you should collect coins like that!" when she saw them. "Whatever you say, dear..."

 

-JamminJ

[spy88]

JJ, that is one nice coin you have! There was a thread not too long ago concerning design changes for some of our currency as allegorical designs are all but an impossibility.

 

The city scene is completely within the theme alot of us would like to see on some of ours! And for being 350 years old, I'd say it held up extremely well!!!

 

I likea alotta!

 

David

[JamminJ]

JJ, that is one nice coin you have! There was a thread not too long ago concerning design changes for some of our currency as allegorical designs are all but an impossibility.

 

The city scene is completely within the theme alot of us would like to see on some of ours! And for being 350 years old, I'd say it held up extremely well!!!

 

I likea alotta!

 

David

 

Thanks very much! I'm really happy to see folks who are not regular world coin collectors stopping by, I hope you say hello here more often.

 

In comparison to some of the world coins out there our coinage is really disapponting. It's really a shame that once a president or monument makes it n to a coin in the US it seems stuck there forever.

 

-JamminJ

[spy88]

JJ---

 

I try NOT to look too often at darkside coinage! I am too easily "enchanted" with all coins ever made! Gotta stick to my itsy-bitsy corner of them all with raw FS Jeffs, PR ASE's (mint, not slabbed) and all mint sets from 1999 on.

 

Used to do ALOT more collecting and I just could not afford to buy all I wanted, so got enough brains to learn to just say "NO!" to myself and enjoy everyones pics!

 

Now I just wish I could do this with smoking!

 

David

 

P.S. In that thread about bringing back allegory on our coinage, I said something to the effect..."If death is a prerequisite for stampimg a president on a coin, why don't we put extinct animals on them too? Same thing isn't it?"

 

Got a laugh from somebody, but I was serious!

[gmarguli]

I try NOT to look too often at darkside coinage! I am too easily "enchanted" with all coins ever made! Gotta stick to my itsy-bitsy corner of them all with raw FS Jeffs, PR ASE's (mint, not slabbed) and all mint sets from 1999 on.

 

James is a bad man. A very bad man. He showed me a bunch of his foreign coins and they looked nice and now I'm buying ones like those. I'm looking at thalers on eBay. I'm browsing foreign coin web sites. I'm flipping thru Krause books trying to find things I'd like to own. A bad man I tell you, a very bad man.

[JamminJ]

James is a bad man. A very bad man. He showed me a bunch of his foreign coins and they looked nice and now I'm buying ones like those. I'm looking at thalers on eBay. I'm browsing foreign coin web sites. I'm flipping thru Krause books trying to find things I'd like to own. A bad man I tell you, a very bad man.

 

Thank you, thank you very much.

 

-JamminJ

[1jester]

JJ, thanks for sharing the neat coin with us, along with the historical summary. I think Cacheman has one of these in uncirculated. He has a very nice collection of many different uncirculated city view Thalers.

 

Nurnberg is a wonderful, charming city, and it's very well-known not only for its annual Christkindelmarkt (Christ child's market, a sort of open air festival held in December, in the very large old town square), but also for its gingerbread pastries. Visiting the castle is also a must. Nurnberg is a way cool city.