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1 Thaler - Maurice Klippe
| Issuer | Hesse-Cassel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1594 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Half-length armored effigy of Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Cassel facing right, depicted in elaborate plate armor and holding a battle axe raised over his right shoulder; a crested helmet is visible at the far right of the field. The portrait is rendered in a bold, three-dimensional style characteristic of late Renaissance German coinage. The surrounding legend is inscribed in Latin along the periphery of the klippe flan. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A quartered heraldic shield displaying the four principal arms of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel, with a central escutcheon bearing the striped arms of Hesse. Above the shield are three ornately decorated jousting helmets with elaborate mantling and crests, arranged in a triangular composition typical of German Renaissance armorial design. The date 1594 appears at the conclusion of the circumferential Latin legend. |
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| Additional information |
Klippe — square-struck coinage — was produced in Hesse-Cassel during the reign of Landgrave Maurice not as ordinary currency but almost certainly as presentation pieces, distributed at court ceremonies, baptisms, and diplomatic occasions. The format commanded a premium in silver precisely because of the waste involved in cutting square planchets from standard round stock.
Maurice, who later earned the epithet "the Learned," was an unusually cultivated ruler who composed music, patronized theatre, and corresponded with scholars across Europe. The 1594 date places this piece early in his reign, which began that same year upon the death of his father William IV.