NEWP -- c. 1740 Klippe

[brg5658]

Yesterday (Tuesday, June 17) I received the early bird notice from CRO around 10:59am. Usually I'm not somewhere where I can take a look at the offerings immediately, but yesterday I was lucky that I was. I saw one new offered piece there that just blew me away.

 

Something close to my heart, of course, in that it was a horse design. But, it has a lot more going for it than just that. It was also square (a Klippe), had amazing toning on both sides, and had a super-cool city scene on the reverse of the coin that I just fell in love with. All of this wrapped up in a coin about the size of a USA quarter dollar. A mere 8 minutes after I received the email, I shot an email off to John Agre at CRO, and within an hour (and a lunch break) after that the deal was sealed and paid in full.

 

I will just say that John is a class act. He entertained my request to see a slab shot so I could get a reference for the size of the coin. He answered a few questions I had immediately -- I mean, within minutes!! He was very straightforward with me, not pressuring me into making a decision but frankly and softly letting me know that the coin had been popular (a total of 6 calls to purchase if after mine!) -- and so he wanted to be fair in the first-come first-serve order of things. As my first buying experience with CRO, I would give it a 5-stars rating all around, and it even gets better...

 

The coin arrived at my front door 23 hours and 58 minutes after my first email to John. Yes, from Massachusetts to Minnesota in less than 24 hours, and with a cool CRO hat to boot!

 

Without further ado, below is the new coin for my horse-collection, and my core collection in general. It's just as lovely in hand as it is in these images from CRO. I have one more horse-related item on it's way to me, but then I'll be on a bit of a buying hiatus for a while.

 

Cheers,

-Brandon

 

========================================

 

[JKK]

I wish more coins were as appealing as that one, and that more buying experiences were so satisfactory. Great piece!

[brg5658]

I got around to taking my own versions of images of this coin tonight. Below are the shots. I had the disadvantage of imaging it through plastic, whereas the CRO images were pre-slabbing.

 

 

My composite image, with NGC label and dimensions

 

 

Images including the slab/prongs (for reference of color and to see how it's holdered).

 

 

Some close-ups, with a small scale of 1 mm for reference

 

[brg5658]

I can't find much information about this particular issue so far. I did find reference to the coin / design in a 1765 work indexed on Google Books. I also found reference to the coin in a book of German proverbs/wisdom published in 1877. I will try to snap some photos of the coin with greater zoom, to bring out some of the amazing and small details soon.

 

===================================

 

Schwäbische Merckwürdigkeiten, oder kleine Abhandlungen, Auszüge und vermischte Nachrichten von Schwäbischen Sachen: zum Dienst und Vergnügen hoher und niedriger, gelehrt- und ungelehrter Personen. By Johann Jacob Moser, Ulm, 1765

 

Page 408; item 277.

Square ducat.

Obverse: The city of Stuttgart. Below, “Stuttgardia.”

Reverse: A stud, with a foal, and the surrounding text “Well raised youth makes one happy”

 

And a scan of page 408 from the book (I added the yellow box highlighting the coin in question):

 

[jgenn]

That is simply a stunning coin, Brandon. I love your horse themed collection and perhaps it has inspired me to acquire a few coins depicting the noble equine; I have 4 Dutch Silver Rider Ducatons, so far. I am also interested in collecting a few city scene talers -- I've bid but have yet to win any. What a great combination of imagery you have found in a single coin! And your photos are superb!

 

Thanks for mentioning your source. Your kind reference to John impressed me. I just signed up for the CRO newsletter. Maybe you could drop a few hints on negotiating with him -- I've viewed the 8 reales in his store and let me just say, I can only dream of selling some of my comparable pieces for those prices.

 

Once again, congratulations on a fantastic acquisition!

 

~jack

 

 

[Zebo]

Wow!

 

Nice pickup and excellent photos.

[HiHoAudio]

Beautiful coin and your photos just keep getting better and better.