Augsburg 1530 Quarter Thaler - Great Historical Pedigree!

[JamminJ]

Hello everyone,

 

Here’s a coin I feel very fortunate to have had come my way, a 1530 Augsburg quarter thaler:

 

This coin features the mightiest of all the Hapsburg emperors, Charles V, in half length portrait on the obverse and the imperial eagle along with the pinecone symbol of Augsburg on the reverse.

 

Charles was initially Charles I of Spain coming to rule in upon the death of his father in 1506 Aragón, Navarre, Granada, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia and the Spanish empire in North and South America, adding Castile in 1516. He dreamed of ruling a worldwide empire and thus began war with France over her Italian possessions in 1521. Crushing her utterly he imposed the Treaty of Madrid in 1526 where Burgundy came into his possession. A second round with France, now allied with Venice and the pope, ended similarly except Charles was now elected Holy Roman Emperor and crowned by the pope in Rome (the last of the Emperors to be coronated there) adding Germany, Hungary, Bohemia and Austria to his long list of possessions.

 

Charles delegated much of the rule of his German territories to this brother Ferdinand (later HRE Ferdinand I) but the increasing threat of the Ottoman Turks to his domains and growing Catholic/Protestant strife compelled him to retain involvement. In the year 1530 (the same as my coin) Charles convened an Imperial Diet at Augsburg where the topics for discussion would be how to unite Christendom for the upcoming war on the Turks. The protestant Duke Elector of Saxony was invited to present the tenets of his faith to the emperor. In a courageous act he did so, reading the Confession of Augsburg aloud, at 3:00 pm on June 25 standing with the other protestant prices openly siding with the outlaw Martin Luther and against the Emperor and Pope. During the diet a compromise could not be reached with Charles allowing the protestants until April of the next year to adhere to the one true faith. At the expiration of the deadline he declared the protestants defeated and went off to fight the Turks, essentially ducking the issue. The confession of Augsburg went on to be the foundation of Lutheran theology.

 

Believe it or not it came from the very same bid board on the very same week where Greg found his copper Siberian hockey puck coin, displayed in a neighboring thread. When considering buying this coin I asked the shop owner his opinion of its value. Initially he said “no clue” but as soon as I placed the bid it quickly changed to “Dammit, I knew you would bid on that, that coin is RARE with the last one sold in the Early ‘90s at auction in Belgium going for $320. I was hoping it wouldn’t get any bids and I could pick that up cheap!” Coin dealers.

 

Comments are welcome!

-JamminJ

[TJ]

I'm sure it's nice coin but I can't stand the irregular edges. It's as if they poured the metal in a waffle iron and some leaked over the sides.

[JamminJ]

The rough edges kind of come with the territiory, manufacturing was quite crude back in the 1500's. The manufacturing, expecially of minor coins, remained rough into the late 1700s or early 1800s. This one is actually in pretty good shape for the era, believe it or not.

 

I like it more for the historical interest and I'm sure another one won't come along for a long, long time.

 

-JamminJ

[TJ]

Sounds rare. So how'd you come by it then, and give us a price range. When I get back into foreign coins I know I will stick to 19th century and beyond. But I like your thoughts on "getting out of the must fill in the hole" mentality.

[JamminJ]

According to the owner of the shop there's an old guy who had collected world coins for many years. When he got married long ago he promised his bride he would sell his entire collection when he reached 70 years old. He's been true to his word and selling off his collection on a bid board a few coins each week. Apparently he is down to the last few coins but all the remaining ones are something special.

 

I won this coin at the opening bid of $75 (not really a great venue to sell a specialized coin like this). After a bit of research I decided would have paid $200 unhesitatingly and probably somewhat more. I turned down several offers by the shop owner (he bids only once on his bid board auctions) for it, including one of $300.

 

-JamminJ

[TJ]

According to the owner of the shop there's an old guy who had collected world coins for many years. When he got married long ago he promised his bride he would sell his entire collection when he reached 70 years old. He's been true to his word and selling off his collection on a bid board a few coins each week. Apparently he is down to the last few coins but all the remaining ones are something special.

 

I won this coin at the opening bid of $75 (not really a great venue to sell a specialized coin like this). After a bit of research I decided would have paid $200 unhesitatingly and probably somewhat more. I turned down several offers by the shop owner (he bids only once on his bid board auctions) for it, including one of $300.

 

-JamminJ

You scored!

But if the shop owner wanted to give you $300 how come he didn't bid higher on the board? Nevermind, I guess he was looking for a deal too by bidding low.

 

So contact this 70-yr old and go over what he's got left?

[Hoot]

JJ - Your knowledge, willingness and ability to share it, never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for another outstanding post (of many). Cool piece. Wonder who advised the old fellow to sell in such a poor venue?

 

Hoot

[GDJMSP]

Very cool coin JJ

 

I may have to try talking you out of that one of these days as it would go very nicely with my 1730 Augsburg ducat that was struck in commemoration of the bicentennial of the Confession.