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10 Thalers - John Frederick Death of John Frederick
| Issuer | Brunswick-Lüneburg-Calenberg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1679 |
| Type | Commemorative circulation coin |
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|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | JF 10 |
| Reverse description | A personification of Death as a standing skeleton occupies the central field, depicted in the act of severing the numbered fronds of a tall palm tree with outstretched arms; each branch bears a sequential number representing the years of Duke John Frederick's life, with numbers ranging from the lower fronds up to 79 near the crown of the tree. The scene is set upon a mounded ground, with cut and fallen branches strewn at the base of the tree. The arc legend CERTUM ITER FATA PARANT curves along the upper rim. In the lower exergue, a four-line Latin inscription reads: DUM FRIDERICE / TUAE PROPERANTUR STAMINA VITAE / CERTUM GLORIAE ITER FATA / INOPINO PARANT. |
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| Additional information |
John Frederick of Brunswick-Calenberg died in December 1679 at Augsburg while returning from Vienna, where he had been negotiating with Emperor Leopold I. The timing made the memorial coinage an immediate political instrument — his brother and successor Ernest Augustus needed to consolidate ducal authority quickly, and a lavish posthumous issue in massive silver reinforced dynastic continuity in the most visible way available.
At 258 grams, pieces of this type required extraordinary planchet preparation and rarely struck up fully at the edges. Dav BrSL#215 documents the type among the great Brunswick memorial issues; surviving examples with undisturbed surfaces are genuinely scarce.