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Thaler 15 coats of arms
| Issuer | City of Lucerne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1557 |
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| Currency | Thaler (1550-1656) |
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| Obverse description | Saint Leodegar (Leger), patron saint of Lucerne, is depicted seated facing left upon a Gothic throne, nimbed and vested in full episcopal regalia including mitre. A soldier or executioner stands to the left, armed with a sword, and applies a drill to gouge out the right eye of the saint — referencing the martyrdom of Leodegar by enucleation. A tiled floor is rendered beneath the figures in a late-medieval pictorial style consistent with mid-sixteenth-century Swiss die-cutting. The legend is disposed around the periphery of the field. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | 1557 ✥ S ✥ LEODIGARI⁹ ✥ PATR` ✥ LVCERNE` (Translation: Sanctus Leodigarius Patronus Lucernae. Saint Leodegar, patron of Lucerne.) |
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| Additional information |
Lucerne issued this thaler during a period when the Swiss Confederation's internal politics were increasingly strained by the Reformation — Lucerne itself remained staunchly Catholic while neighboring cantons had broken with Rome. The elaborate heraldic display on this piece is less decorative than it is political: a deliberate assertion of confederate solidarity and civic identity at a moment when both were under pressure.
The Wielandt reference places this as a scarce emission within the 1550s Lucerne thaler sequence. HMZ 2#617d distinguishes it from closely related dies, and misattribution between the lettered variants within this group is common in older auction records.