Sale: Nomos 5, Lot: 77. Estimate CHF2500.  Closing Date: Monday, 24 October 2011.  Sold For CHF2600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Austria, Vienna. Leopold I. 1657-1705. Medal (Silver, 48mm, 33.97 g 12), On the defeat of the Turkish Army before Vienna, 1683. DU ADLER SITZ GOTT IST DEIN SCHUTZ DEM MAHOMET ZU SPOTT UND TRUTZ Imperial double eagle above the city of Vienna, with the Allies, on the left, attacking the Turkish besiegers who flee towards the right, abandoning their camp in the foreground. Rev. Inscription describing the siege in fourteen lines; above, within wreath of palm, bust of Leopold I to right with the legend, .VIVAT.TRIUMPHET,; below, floral ornament. Hirsch 56. Rare, Very attractively toned. Extremely fine.

The reverse tells us that the Turks began the siege on the 14th of July and were defeated by the allies on the 11th and 12th of September at the Battle of Kahlenberg. This was decisive for the history of the Ottomans: from then on they remained on the defensive in Europe until their Empire collapsed and the last sultan was deposed in 1922.