By Henrik Berndt – Senior Numismatist, Stack’s Bowers Galleries ……
It has lengthy been customary to place patron saints on cash, and so it was for the German Metropolis of Wismar. Located on the German Baltic coast, tucked in behind the small island of Poel, Wismar was based in 1226. As part of the highly effective Hanseatic League, it grew wealthy, and on a number of events was conquered by German states and likewise by Sweden.
Wismar fell below Swedish management on the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that ended the Thirty Years’ Warfare. It remained below Swedish rule till 1803, when the town was ceded to Mecklenburg-Schwerin for 1,258,000 Riksdalers.
Through the time, Wismar retained its minting rights from the Holy Roman Emperor, and the town Justice of the Peace jealously guarded these rights. For this reason the cash minted in Wismar below Swedish rule, with only a few exceptions, present the title of the emperor and never the Swedish ruler.
One such coin is the wonderful Wismar Taler of 1673, which is obtainable by Stack’s Bowers Galleries within the L.E. Bruun Half II sale in Zürich on March 15, 2025. The title and double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold, takes up all the reverse of the coin. The obverse is not any much less fascinating, with a big depiction of the Metropolis Patron, St. Lawrence (Laurentius or Lars). Lawrence holds a gridiron in his left hand as a brutal reminder of his martyrdom. He was roasted in 258 AD in Rome on a large gridiron – and his alleged cheerful remarks about being executed on one facet made him the patron saint of cooks, cooks, and comedians.
Underneath the Saint are the town arms. The defend is split vertically with striped fields on the correct and the left facet of a topped bull on the correct. Striding the town arms are the initials “H” and “R” for Hans Ridder, mintmaster in Wismar from 1670 to 1674.
A uncommon coin, this NGC AU53 Wismar Taler comes on the marked very occasionally, and this specimen is kind of probably one of the best provided in a long time.
To view all heaps within the March 2025 L.E. Bruun Half II sale, go to StacksBowers.com.
* * *