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1/4 Thaler
| Issuer | Hamburg, Free Hanseatic city of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1620-1622 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The Hamburg castle — a three-towered fortified gate with an arched portal — depicted in high relief at center, enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The structure displays fine architectural detail including battlements, windows, and a portcullis. A circular Latin legend surrounds the beaded border, reading MONNO CIVI HAMBURGENSIS, identifying this as coinage of the city of Hamburg. The overall style is characteristic of early seventeenth-century German municipal coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | A crowned double-headed imperial eagle displayed in the field, with wings spread and both heads facing outward beneath a single imperial crown. An orb inscribed with the denomination appears on the eagle's breast. The surrounding legend contains the titles of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II in abbreviated Latin. The engraving reflects the standard imperial eagle type common to Hamburg coinage of the early Kipper und Wipper period. |
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| Additional information |
Hamburg's quarter thalers of 1620–1622 fall squarely within the Kipper und Wipper period, one of the most destructive monetary crises in early modern European history. Competing German states were systematically debasing their coinage and then dumping the degraded coins across neighboring borders before the fraud could be detected. Hamburg, commercially exposed as a major trading hub, was not immune — though the city's merchant class had strong incentives to maintain metallic standards that counterparties would actually accept.
Gaedechens 605 is a recognized variety within Hamburg's civic silver output for this turbulent window.