Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 1249. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $350. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANY, Sachsen-Albertinische Linie. Friedrich August III. Elector, 1763-1806. AR Taler (27.91 g, 12h). Dresden mint; Samuel Helbig, mintmaster. Dated 1806. Draped bust right / Crowned coat of arms between branches; S • G • H • in exergue. Davenport 850; KM 1027. Near EF, lightly toned.

After his defeat at the hands of Napoleon, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II agreed in the Treaty of Pressburg to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire on 6 August 1806. With this action, the one thousand-year-old confederation of European states was formally ended. The electorate of Saxony, once an important component of the Empire, became an independent kingdom with Napoleon’s support. This taler depicts Duke Friedrich August III as Elector of Saxony, just before he assumed the title of Saxony’s first king.