1/3 Thaler
County of Mansfeld - Eisleben
1669
Composition: Silver
Weight: 9.64g
Diameter: 31.7mm
Thickness: 1.5mm
John George III, Elector of Saxony
House: Wettin
Born 1647 - Died 1691
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1/3 Thaler County of Mansfeld - Eisleben 1669 Composition: Silver Weight: 9.64g Diameter: 31.7mm Thickness: 1.5mm John George III, Elector of Saxony House: Wettin Born 1647 - Died 1691 |
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The obverse of this coin features Saint George slaying a dragon, with the denomination 1/3 below. |
The letters ABK on the reverse of the coin, below the date, are the initials of mint master Anton Bernhard Koburger. In 1663 he was appointed mint master at the Halle mint in Magdeburg by Duke August. The Halle mint was not sanctioned by the Empire, and mint operations were not legal. In 1667, Koburger accepted an additional post of mint master for the Counts of Mansfeld at the Eisleben mint. A year later the Halle mint was closed by the Empire, and Koburger was briefly jailed. He was permitted to move to Eisleben to continue as mint master for Mansfeld, where this coin was minted in 1669. In 1674, the mint warden of the Upper Saxon Circle accused Koburger of striking underweight coins, and striking coins at the Eisleben mint with metal not produced in Mansfeld mines. Koburger was dismissed from the mint in 1675 and became an overseer of a copper mine, he died in 1680. Source: The Numismatist, August 1951 issue. |