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1 Guldengroschen - George the Bearded
| Issuer | Saxony (Albertinian Line), Electorate of |
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| Year | 1527 |
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| Currency | Thaler (1493-1805) |
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| Obverse description | Bust of Duke George the Bearded facing right, wearing a cap and fur-trimmed robe, presented in a plain inner circle. The circular legend in Latin reads GEORGIVS DE GRACIA DVX SAXONIE, followed by ETATIS SVE LVI and the date ANNO DOMINI MDXXVII, indicating the duke's age of 56 at the time of issue. The portrait is rendered in the bold, high-relief Germanic Renaissance style typical of early Albertinian Saxon coinage, with fine detail in the facial features and costume. The lettering is separated by ornamental stops and a small floral device. |
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| Mint | Freiberg Mint |
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| Additional information |
George the Bearded ruled the Albertinian half of Saxony in determined opposition to Luther — unusual for a German prince of the 1520s, and a source of sustained friction with his Ernestine cousins who had sheltered the reformer at Wartburg. His coins circulated in a duchy politically at odds with the dominant current of its neighbors. The Guldengroschen type itself descends from the large silver coinage pioneered in the Tyrol in the 1480s and brought to Saxony through the extraordinary silver output of the Erzgebirge mines.