GERMANY, Köln (City). AR Double Guldengroschen – Ursulataler (45mm, 57.55 g, 12h). The Three Magi type. Struck circa 1517.

Triton XXV
Lot: 1154. Estimated: $ 10 000

World, Silver

Sold For $ 15 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

GERMANY, Köln (City). AR Double Guldengroschen – Ursulataler (45mm, 57.55 g, 12h). The Three Magi type. Struck circa 1517. IΛSPΛR mЄLChI OR ЄT • BΛ LTΛSΛR (qutarefoil stops), the Three Magi, Caspar, Melchior, and Baltasar, standing facing, heaching holding lis-tipped scepter, around coat-of-arms; in exergue, O · FЄLI · COL / * SΛnGVI’Є hI * ROSЄO * RЄGnΛ * VICЄRЄ * SVPЄ’nΛ *, St. Ursula and Prince Conan Meriadoc on ship with Pope Syriacus to right, holding long cross; four other figures around; flags of England and Brittany by mast. Noss, Köln 77b note; cf. Davenport 9147. A few minor edge marks. Trace of deposits on reverse. Rich cabinet toning. Good VF. Very rare.

From the J. de Wilde Collection. Ex Numismatica Genevensis 8 (24 November 2014), lot 317; J.J.Grano Collection (Numismatica Genevensis 2, 18 November 2002), 268.

This marvelously detailed coin takes for it types the most venerated saints of the city of Cologne. On the obverse are the Three Kings of the East who followed the star to Bethlehem bringing gifts for the baby Jesus. Since 1164 Cologne Cathedral has housed the relics of the Three Kings, also known as the Magi (in Persian tradition magi are Zorastrian priests). On the reverse is a depiction from the legend of Saint Ursula, a British Princess who, along with eleven thousand virgins, was martyred near Cologne by the Huns around 451 AD. A church was built in the city in late Antiquity to house the bones of Ursula and her followers.

The final winners of all Triton XXV lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 11-12 January 2022. Triton XXV – Session Four – Early Medieval & Islamic Coinage through Large Lots will be held Wednesday afternoon, 12 January 2022 beginning at 2:00 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 22.50% for all others.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and the stable previous version of Mozilla Firefox and Chrome.