LOT Heritage Rare Coin Galleries  /  2007 Jan New York World Coin Auction #425  / 

53055

Gabriel Bethlan silver Thaler 1621-KB, KM-134, Dav-4710

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - World Start Price:1,750.00 USD Estimated At:3,500.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Gabriel Bethlan silver Thaler 1621-KB, KM-134, Dav-4710
<B>Gabriel Bethlan silver Thaler 1621-KB,</B></I> KM-134, Dav-4710, MS62 NGC, a sparkling coin with exceptional surfaces and delightful, original silvery gold iridescent toning, an awesome strike on the Prince, with the reverse shield also mostly quite sharp (always there are a few weakly impressed areas), also on a full, round flan with high rims and no cracks or holes (often seen on these). So, all in all, if ever one of these deserved to be called Choice Uncirculated, this is it! Whatever you wish to grade it, it is an exquisite example of its type and an historical coin.<BR>Struck during a period of intense hostility, this coin somehow survived--although it was one of many thousands, and dozens of types of the era, produced from the silver mines that expanded the wealth of the region and the ambitions of its rulers. Gabriel Bethlen was prince of Transylvania (1613-1629), and opposed the mighty Hapsburgs in Hungary. He was a Protestant. He had grown up within the castle of his uncle Andras Lazar, and while still a lad became part of the court of Prince Sigismund Bathory, whom he accompanied on his famous Wallachian campaign (mentioned in another lot). He became the prince himself in 1605 and fought Gabriel Bathory without success until 1613, when the latter was murdered and Bethlen was handed the throne of Transylvania by the Turks. Not as cruel as many of his namesake, he commercialized the land, supported mining (hence the outpouring of silver, which produced coins like this one), and sought foreign trade and the exchange of students, especially with England and Germany. He himself wished to pursue learning within his newly built castle in the capital city of Alba Julia and became a staunch Calvinist, but the Hapsburgs despised his alliance with the Ottomans and he was forced to return to war against them and their allies. He himself had ambitions to attain the Polish crown but died without it. He was one of the earliest of the modern statesmen and, by his policies, allowed Protestantism to spread throughout part of central Europe. This coin contains many emblems to be studied and enjoyed.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coin/Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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