New Shooting Gallery

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1291. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANY, Sachsen-Albertinische Linie. Johann Georg II. Elector, 1656-1680. AR Kuranttaler-Klippe (23.18 g, 12h). Commemorating the opening of a new Schießhaus. Dresden mint. Dated 1678. IOH • GEORG • II • • D G • DUX • SAX • IUL • CLIV • & • MONT • ELECT •, crowned ducal coat-of-arms framed by English Order of the Garter inscribed legend HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, and palm sprays; crowned coats-of-arms of Sachsen, Cleve, Berg, and Jülich in corners; the whole within reeded border / M • D C • LXXVIII •/EINWEYH: D: NEUEN •/SCHIES • HAUSES [•] in three lines across field, Hercules standing facing slightly right on facing lion scalp, head left, wearing drapery about waist which continues over left forearm, lion skin over right shoulder, holding club set on ground in right hand and Apples of the Hesperides in extended left; 1 THAL in exergue; the whole within reeded border. C&K 539; Schnee 960; Merseburger 2409; Davenport 7636. EF, toned.

Johann Georg II had a keen interest in art and music, and he contributed heavily to Dresden’s rise as a cultural capital of Europe after the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). For most of his reign, he enjoyed good relations with the powerful Louis XIV of France, but his political activity was otherwise very limited. He organized many festivals and events, as evidenced by this taler, which commemorates the construction of a new gallery for shooting matches.