First Dated German Coinage

Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 1266. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANY, Aachen (Herzogtum). Wilhelm II. 1361-1393. AR Jungheitgroschen (25mm, 2.24 g, 7h). Struck in the name of Charlemagne, dated MCCCLXXV (1375). Crowned facing half-length bust of Charlemagne, holding tridentine scepter in right hand and globus cruciger in left; imperial coat-of-arms below / Large voided cross pattée; date in legend. Levinson I-4a; Menadier 95; Föschner 64-6. VF, toned, small flan crack. Rare early dated issue.

The city of Aachen had been an important imperial town since the time of Charlemagne, when he spent his first Christmas there after being crowned king in 768. The chapel he ordered constructed there housed both his throne and his tomb, making the town the logical location for subsequent Carolingian coronations, and an important center for the Kings of the Germans. Consequently, Aachen remained an imperial city through much of the Middle Ages.

In 1360/1 the city was entrusted by the emperor to Wilhelm II, a member of the younger branch of the Dukes of Jülich. To commemorate this appointment in 1372, jungheitgroschen, so called from the German “Jungheit” in the legend, were minted. The inclusion of the Roman numeral date on these issues, like this specimen, make them the first dated German coinage. The meaning of “Jungheit” remains in dispute: either the term refers to the ascendancy of the younger branch in their acquisition of Aachen, or to the temporary status of the mint, independent of imperial control.