Sale: Triton V, Lot: 2355. Estimate $20000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.  Sold For $29000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANY, Konstanz. No Date (Circa 1619-1637). AR Thaler (29.39 gm). FERD: II D: G: ROM: IMPER: SEMPER: AVG*, crowned double eagle / S: PELAGIVS S: CONRADVS, Sts. Conrad and Pelagius standing behind city arms; St. Conrad holds a plumed sceptre and chalice, St. Pelagius holds a branch and sceptre. Davenport 5174; KM 105. Good VF. Extremely rare. ($20,000)

Saint Conrad, who died in 975, was bishop of Konstanz from 934 until his death. He made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land three times, and in an age when most bishops were continually involved in secular politics, he attended exclusively to ecclesiastical interests. He was canonized in 1123. While still a boy circa 283, St. Pelagius was martyred in Istria under the Roman emperor Numerian. His relics were transferred to Città Nuova in Istria and part of them (circa 915) to Konstanz, where he is venerated as the city's patron saint.