Hey JJ, whatcha think of this coin?

[the_Thing ®]

 

TRANSYLVANIA. Gabriel Bethlan, 1613-1629 AD. AR Breiter Groschen (2.13 gm), 1626. Crowned shield of arms / The Virgin and Child. Resch.329. Toned VF.

[JamminJ]

I found it in my Krause catalog, it's under Transylvania as KM169 and a four year type with six unique date/mint combinations.

Listed values are: $22-VG; $45-F; $65-VF; $85-XF (same for all dates)

 

It doesn't look very Transylvanian to me, because this is almost an exact match to a Hungarian coinage. The coat of arms is Hungarian with just the inner circle with the two birds added for Transylvania. The Madonna and Child is the classic Hungarian design. This is because in 1626 Belthan suffered his final defeat by the Hungarian/Imperial forces and in the Treaty of Bratislava was forced, once and for all, acknowledge Hungarian superiority. Here's a link.

 

I guess my point being that if you're looking for a true Transylvanian coin you might do better with one of the issues the Belthan was on top. The catalog has dozens of examples and most are reasonably priced.

 

Now onto the coin, it looks like something I would grab only if it were cheap -$25 or so. The black stuff looks like environmental damage. Unlike the crusader stuff you cand find things like thing very well preserved - I have a couple of uncirculatred contemporary Hungarian coins.

 

For comparisons sake, on Karl Stephen's most recent price list, he offers a coin of the same year and type but with the NB mintmark. His description runs:

 

1626NB Groschen KM-169 Gab. Belthan. Crowned arms/ Madonna & Child. Highly lustrous AU, some light flan porosity as made....$89

 

Since Karl also has one I can't imagine the coin is exceptionally tough to come by. He's also a tough grader so make sure you dont' pay too much for the one above.

 

After browsing through the Transylvanian coin I may just have to add one to my collection.

 

-JamminJ