Heritage World Coin Auctions
March Signature Sale 3096 25-27 Mar 2021
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Sweden
Johan III (1568-1592) 4 Riksdaler ND (1587) XF45 NGC, Stockholm mint, Dav-LS570, AAH-17 (R), Hagander-Unl., Hagander Collection-Unl. 114.11gm. Gillis (Julius) Coyet the Elder as mintmaster. A coin as impressive for its size as it is for its rarity, struck from specially prepared dies of the same design as the Double Riksdaler and Double Rose Noble, though in distinctively broader dimensions. Apart from some rub that appears over the King's face and beard, a naturally higher portion of the design, the devices retain full execution and marvelous clarity. Both sides of the coin are overlaid with an antique graphite patina, intensifying to charcoal hues towards the obverse margins and forming silhouettes around the reverse features. Notably missing from the incredible numismatic cabinet formed by Julius Hagander, as well as from the holdings of Brand and John Story Jenks, we have not been able to locate a single specimen becoming available in recent memory.
Writing on the Double Rose Nobles of the same series, Delzanno has remarked that Johan III's Double Riksdalers were most likely produced to be used as bribes for the Polish Parliament to secure his son, Sigismund's (the future Sigismund III Vasa), accession to the vacant Polish-Lithuanian throne. Poland had indeed long played a major role in Johan's foreign policy, owing largely to the bloodline of his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica, who hailed from the famed Jagiellonian ruling house of Poland-Lithuania. That such coins would certainly have made an immense impression on any contemporary could hardly be disputed--the 4 Daler in particular, was significantly larger than any other silver coin that had been previously issued in Sweden, and completely dwarfed the notoriously small billon issues that circulated in contemporary Poland. Though they would cause disastrous inflation domestically, the power of such pieces to convey an air of value and authority certainly was not lost on contemporaries, and it is no coincidence that the reign of Sigismund III saw the production of some of the largest coins ever minted in Poland.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/sweden/sweden-johan-iii-1568-1592-4-riksdaler-nd-1587-xf45-ngc-/a/3096-30448.s?type=CoinArchives3096
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 12000-15000 USD
Johan III (1568-1592) 4 Riksdaler ND (1587) XF45 NGC, Stockholm mint, Dav-LS570, AAH-17 (R), Hagander-Unl., Hagander Collection-Unl. 114.11gm. Gillis (Julius) Coyet the Elder as mintmaster. A coin as impressive for its size as it is for its rarity, struck from specially prepared dies of the same design as the Double Riksdaler and Double Rose Noble, though in distinctively broader dimensions. Apart from some rub that appears over the King's face and beard, a naturally higher portion of the design, the devices retain full execution and marvelous clarity. Both sides of the coin are overlaid with an antique graphite patina, intensifying to charcoal hues towards the obverse margins and forming silhouettes around the reverse features. Notably missing from the incredible numismatic cabinet formed by Julius Hagander, as well as from the holdings of Brand and John Story Jenks, we have not been able to locate a single specimen becoming available in recent memory.
Writing on the Double Rose Nobles of the same series, Delzanno has remarked that Johan III's Double Riksdalers were most likely produced to be used as bribes for the Polish Parliament to secure his son, Sigismund's (the future Sigismund III Vasa), accession to the vacant Polish-Lithuanian throne. Poland had indeed long played a major role in Johan's foreign policy, owing largely to the bloodline of his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica, who hailed from the famed Jagiellonian ruling house of Poland-Lithuania. That such coins would certainly have made an immense impression on any contemporary could hardly be disputed--the 4 Daler in particular, was significantly larger than any other silver coin that had been previously issued in Sweden, and completely dwarfed the notoriously small billon issues that circulated in contemporary Poland. Though they would cause disastrous inflation domestically, the power of such pieces to convey an air of value and authority certainly was not lost on contemporaries, and it is no coincidence that the reign of Sigismund III saw the production of some of the largest coins ever minted in Poland.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/sweden/sweden-johan-iii-1568-1592-4-riksdaler-nd-1587-xf45-ngc-/a/3096-30448.s?type=CoinArchives3096
HID02906262019
© 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 12000-15000 USD