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Sale 114
Lot 296
Strasbourg. City. Gold Ducat (1650). Helmeted arms with lion supporters. Rev. Four line inscription within wreath (Fr 237; KM 424) In NGC holder graded MS 62. Value $2,500 - UP
The medieval town of Strasbourg grew out of the ancient Roman military camp first established at Argentoratum in 12 BC. In 923, Strasbourg passed under the authority of the Holy Roman Empire when the Duke of Lorraine swore fealty to the Ottonian Holy Roman Emperor Henry I. Strasbourg was an important commercial center ruled by powerful prince-bishops, but over time the ecclesiastical rulers came into conflict with the burghers over their rights and obligations. At last, in 1262, the burghers of Strasbourg, with support from Count Rudolf von Habsburg, made war on their ruler, Walter von Geroldseck, and forced him to flee. Strasbourg subsequently received the status of an Imperial Free City. In 1332, a political revolution in Strasbourg resulted in the reorganization of the city as a republic under the leadership of a broadly-based city council that included members of many trade guilds. Strasbourg prospered from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century and gained fame for its cathedral, which at the time was the tallest building in the world, and for its important role in the development of modern printing using movable type. Strasbourg adopted Lutheranism in the 1520s but managed to remain aloof from the devastating religious conflicts of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). However, the city's strategic location on the Holy Roman Empire's frontier with France made it a target for Louis XIV. By 1648 almost the entirety of Alsace had fallen to the Sun King except for Strasbourg. The city held out as an independent republic of the Empire until 1681, when the French king marched into Strasbourg unopposed and declared its annexation to France.
The present gold ducat features a grandiose depiction of Strasbourg's coat-of-arms featuring the simple shield blazoned with the city's arms supported by two lions and surmounted by a magnificent tilting helm adorned with eagle's wings. This form of helmet was reserved for arms granted to burghers in the heraldry of the Holy Roman Empire. The reverse Latin inscription identifies the value of the coin as a ducat but employs the old name of Argentoratum rather than a Latinized form of Strasbourg to name the city. This undated coin is usually dated to c. 1650, before the capture of the city by Louis XIV, but the prominent fleur-de-lis-the badge of the kingdom of France-above the reverse legend may perhaps suggest a post 1681 date.
Ex Terner Collection by Private Treaty.
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