Two Exceptional Multiple Talers // Fortuna as the Personification of Lautenthal

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 1006. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $6250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANY, Braunschweig-Lüneburg. Rudolph August. Duke, 1666-1685. AR 3 Taler (78.22 g, 12h). Zellerfeld mint; Rudolf Bornemann, mintmaster. Dated 1685. • ERNEST • AUGUSTUS D : G : EPISC : OSNABR : DUX BRUNS : ET LUN :, coat of arms surmounted by five helmets with shield of Osnabrück in center; sword to left, prelate’s crozier to right, horse in border above, R B (mintmaster’s initials) across field, 16 85 below, 3 stamped to left / TU TANDEM ABIECTAM REDDES DEUS ALME SONORAM, Fortuna, head right, playing lute and standing on snail with one foot; in background, city view of Lautenthal, mountain mine works to right; in sky, radiating sun to left, radiate hwhy to right. Welter 1930; Fiala 2365; Knyphausen 2572; Duve 6; Müseler 10.4.3/19; Davenport 242; KM 327. EF, toned, faint scratches on reverse. Very rare.

Ex Goldberg 5 (4 June 2000), lot 4467.

Lautenthal, a town in the Harz Mountains of modern central Germany, was the site of a famous silver mine called “Lautenthal’s Luck.” The town was founded in 1538 when iron ore was discovered in the area. After further exploration, the town developed into a successful silver mining operation. These multiple talers, which depict Lautenthal and its mine works in careful detail, reveal the mine’s importance to the dukes of Brunswick as a source of great wealth. The young woman on the reverse, standing before a mountain valley scene, is likely an allegorical depiction of the goddess Fortuna. She plays a lute (“Laute” in German) in her role as the personification of the town of Lautenthal.

The dukes of Brunswick probably minted these large coins to serve as an emergency fund when Lautenthal’s rate of production was very high. Landowners in the duchy were required to purchase the talers according to their means. If the duke needed funding for a war or other emergency, he could ask for the coins to be returned. In exchange, the landowners would receive coins of lower silver purity.