Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Thaler - Augustus William Bicentenary of the Reformation
| Issuer | Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1717 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | KM#766, Welter#2384 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | AVGVST WILH. D.G.DVX.BR.ET.LVN. |
| Reverse description | The reverse features an entirely epigraphic design, with a twelve-line Latin commemorative inscription filling the field, celebrating the second centenary of the Lutheran Reformation. The text, set in capital Roman lettering of varying sizes for emphasis, reads: IN MEMORIAM IVBILAEI II / OB VER. DOCTRINAM CHRIST / ANTE HOS CC ANNOS / A CORRVPTELIS / VANISQ. PONTIFICIOR. COMMENTIS / AVSPICE DEO / VINDICE D.M. LVTHERO / FELICITER REPVRGATAM, followed by the year in Roman numerals CIↃ IↃ CC XVII, then PR.KAL.ET.KAL.NOV. / IN TERRIS BR.WOLFFEN. / CELEBRATI, and the engraver's or die-cutter's initials H.C.H. at the base. The inscription commemorates the purification of Christian doctrine from papal corruptions, accomplished two hundred years prior under God's auspices and the advocacy of Dr. Martin Luther, and its celebration in the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel lands. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The bicentenary of Luther's 1517 posting of the Ninety-Five Theses prompted a wave of commemorative coinage across Protestant German states in 1717, and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was among the more prolific contributors. Duke Augustus William was a committed Lutheran, and these issues functioned as much as political declarations of confessional allegiance as they did circulating money — the Protestant Union had dissolved a century earlier, but denominational identity remained sharp currency in the Empire's internal politics.
Welter 2384 is the standard attribution for this half thaler within the broader commemorative series, which spans multiple denominations struck that year at the Zellerfeld mint.