Triton XIX, Lot: 2233. Estimate $3000. Sold for $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

AUSTRIA, Holy Roman Empire. Karl V. Emperor, 1519-1556. AV Dukat Klippe (17x18mm, 3.56 g). Siege of Vienna. Ottoman-Hapsburg Wars issue. Wien (Vienna) mint. Dated 1529. Crowned and armored bust right; 15 Z9 flanking; TVRK · BLE/ GERT ·/ WI/: EN :; floral sprays in margins / Long cross pattée with crowned coats-of-arms in quarters. Maillet 2; Friedberg 21. Good VF, some porosity, a couple of minor edge bumps. Rare.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams, purchased from M. Louis Teller, February 1984.

The siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first of two sieges by the Ottoman Turks against the city (the later coming in 1683). After a successful military campaign in Hungary, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I advanced on Vienna with an enormous force in the fall of 1529. However, due to poor weather and a strong defense of the city, he was soon forced to abandon the siege. This event was a highwater mark for the Turkish expansion. For more than a century afterward, the Ottoman Empire would not have the power to threaten central Europe.