Watch List notes:

SWEDEN. Wismar. Ducat, 1743. Lübeck Mint. Fredrik I. NGC MS-63.
Fr-3530; KM-127; SB-76a; SG-75; Hagander-430; Bruun-12891. Weight: 3.44 gms. Mintmaster: Caspar August Falk. Engraver: Johann Friedrich Rahm. A touch of striking weakness at the rim as common for type, this large gold emission shows soft toning over the enigmatic imagery: the city's crest, a bull and the striped flag, over which an armored arm with sword; on the reverse the Imperial Double Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire. A powerful, visually compelling coin.

There is little consensus as to where this issue was actually struck and who the mintmaster was. Some argue that the armoured arm was the mintmark of Hans Ridder, who was mintmaster in Wismar 1670-1674, and that the mintmark was also used by his son, Heinrich Ridder, mintmaster in Lübeck at the time of minting. However, it is more likely the coin was struck in Wismar itself, by the mintmaster and engraver mentioned above, and that the armoured arm is simply copied from the older coinage without knowing the meaning thereof.

From the L. E. Bruun Collection.

Estimate: €3000 - €4000