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Auction: 23006 - The Official COINEX Auction at Spink
Lot: 382

Denmark, Christian IV (1588-1648), Gold "Hebræertype" Ducat, 1648, Copenhagen, by Hans Zum Busch for Heinrich Koehler [Mintmaster], CHRISTIANUS IIII . D : G . DAN : R :, crowned full-length King right, holding orb and sceptre, rev. IUSTUS IUDEX and Hebrew tetragrammaton legend, 3.45g, 5h (Hede 33; Sieg 128.2; Fb. 39), lightly crimped and soft to the higher points, yet struck on a pleasingly full flan, very fine, very rare, the last year of this short-lived but immensely popular issue

Provenance

The Dr Frank Becker Collection of World Coins

Bruun Rasmussen, by private treaty, 2009




The coin was struck in 1647 in Glueckstadt, a town to the north west of Hamburg, until 1864 under Danish rule. Glueckstadt was founded in 1617 by Christian IV, who wanted to divert part of the trade of the powerful Hanseatic city of Hamburg to his dominion. For this, the king needed financially strong citizens with far-reaching trade relations. In 1619, he appointed Albert Dionis alias Semuel Jachja, a successful Sephardic businessman from Hamburg, as mint master in the new town of Glueckstadt. During the last four years of his reign (1644-88), Christian IV chose the Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew four-letter-name of God, to be a prominent element on his coins struck in Copenhagen, Christiana and Glueckstadt. The king made the sketch for this design himself. The prominent Tetragrammaton on the coins is rendered with vowel marks, as in the authoritative Masoretic texts of the Hebrew Bible. The minting of these so-called “Jews’ coins” was perhaps due in part to the influence of his Jewish mint master. Another thought is that the king considered the Hebrew name some sort of protection and help for the war against Sweden (1643-1645).

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Estimate
£1,400 to £2,000

Starting price
£1000