Combining an historic event and the macabre has always held a certain fascination for collectors, perhaps none more than Brutus’ fabled silver Denarius (and gold Aureus) commemorating the assassination of Julius Caesar on the steps of the Roman senate on the Ides of March 44 BC. Throughout history, reflecting on events of death and disaster, coins were struck with haunting images that both fascinate and repel.
Skulls and crossbones, a strong symbol of death and danger, are rarely encountered in modern life; we may see this symbol on warning labels or in cheesy pirate movies, but it wasn’t always so. This can be seen on an amazing and gruesome trio: a Double, a Whole and a Half Death Taler of Duke Johann (Hans) the Younger of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. Stack’s Bowers Galleries is proud to present all three coins in Session II of the L. E. Bruun Part II sale in Zürich on March 14-15.
Duke Johann the Younger (named such to avoid confusion with his uncle, Hans the Elder) was born in 1545 as the third son of King Christian III of Denmark. At his coming of age he was given lands in the periphery of the Danish realm, in the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. The first lands were given to him in 1564, when he received the castles and lands of Sønderborg (Sonderburg) and Nordburg.
As a young man he visited the Reichtag in Augsburg and caught the attention of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian, who offered him a position at the court. Johann was forced by his domineering mother to decline, and he regretted it later in life. But he became an astute businessman and his fortune grew, making him a force to be reckoned with despite his somewhat diminutive land holdings. He would lend considerable amounts of money to his nephew, King Christian IV of Denmark, for that king’s many wars, his exuberant court life and the many castles he had built.
The death of Johann in 1622 was commemorated by a series of coins, so-called Death Talers, bearing his name, the dates of his birth and death, and a sinister looking skull and crossbones which comprisse most of the coins’ obverses. The mintage consisted of a Double Taler, a Taler, a Half Taler and a Quarter Taler.
The fabled L. E. Bruun Collection contains all four coins, and the three largest denominations are offered in the Part II sale, taking place in Zürich on March 14-15.
The Double Taler, weighing in at an impressive 57.48 gms, has an astounding MS-61 grading from NGC.
While the L. E. Bruun II sale is full of impressively rare, large, and lustrous coins, this ‘Trio of Death,’ will most certainly turn some heads and attract serious bidding. Now is the time to bid and buy; one can never know if an opportunity like this will occur again in one’s lifetime – Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.
– and have no fear, the Quarter Taler will come under the hammer too, just not in this sale.
