Dreibrüdertaler (Kursachsen)

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½ Dreibrüdertaler from 1608, Dresden Mint (diameter 34.5 mm).

Dreibrüdertaler is the popular name for a Saxon Reichstaler , which was minted from 1592 to 1611 with the portraits of the three brothers Christian II , Johann Georg and August . Three types were minted from this taler and its parts, which differ in the coin image.

Coin-historical connections

When Elector Christian I of Saxony (1586–1591) died in Dresden on September 25, 1591, not yet 31 years old, his three sons were still minors. The oldest, Prince Elector Christian, was barely eight years old.

Christian followed his father as the eldest son under guardianship , who was determined by his father's will of August 30, 1591 at the same time as his younger brothers, the dukes Johann Georg (born on March 5, 1585) and August (born on September 7, 1589) . According to this will, the guardians were Elector Johann Georg von Brandenburg , maternal grandfather, and Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Saxony in Weimar and Altenburg , a grandson of Elector Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous .

"As a result of multiple, yet in 1591 concluded between two guardians contracts, however, and as a result estates of the land raised hand, concern [was] actually by Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Saxony cure administrator performed alone [...]."

Due to the concerns of the estates, the state administration was led by Friedrich Wilhelm I alone, contrary to Christian I's testament.

Christian II reached maturity at the age of 18 and took over the government and guardianship of his underage brothers Johann Georg and August on September 23, 1601. On July 14, 1602, he received the imperial enfeoffment with the regalia for himself and his brothers in Prague by proxy .

Under the administration of Duke Friedrich Wilhelm I, the name and images of all three sons of the deceased elector were only minted in the Dresden mint . This remained true even after Christian II came of age. Only a change was made to the design of the coin. Christian now appears alone on the front of the Dreibrüdertaler, while his two brothers can be seen on the back.

The Dreibrüdertaler were minted until 1604 under the mint master Hans Biener with his mint master mark HB. He was the first mint master in the Dresden Mint, newly established by Elector August 1556. His successor was Heinrich von Rehnen. Its three-brother thalers bear the mint master mark HR or swan. (Later, in the days of the Kipper and Wipper , he used the flying swan as his symbol on the Kippertaler .) The coin dies for the Dreibrüdertaler were cut by Kilian Prager the Younger until after 1601. From 1605 Heinrich von Rehnen also worked as a coin engraver and medalist at the Dresden Mint.

The strange change in the coin dies

According to Johann Friedrich Klotzsch , under the administrator Friedrich Wilhelm, "with the appearance of these three princes, the coin dies changed very strangely."

“From the time of the coin communion [coin community], which was lifted with Elector Johann Friedrich's imprisonment, at the House of Saxony Albertinian line only a half-length portrait, only a name of the sovereign was seen on their coins. In this house the right of the firstborn was brought into the Landes Succeßion [Succession (Succession)] [...]. "

The strange change in the mint mark noted by Klotzsch relates to the thalers with the three underage brothers on the obverse. Since the battle of Mühlberg in 1547 and the award of the Saxon electoral dignity to the Albertines, the joint coinage agreed in the Leipzig main division of 1485 between the Ernestines and Albertines had finally been abandoned (see Saxon coin separation # Final coin separation ). That had u. a. As a result, from that time on, only a half-length portrait and only the name of the sovereign was stamped on the coins.

"From 1601 on, Elector Christian put his half-length portrait alone on the front page, [...] and so the external constitution remained until his death [Christian II]."

After Christian II's death in 1611, this form of image design was initially continued from the front and back. The portrait of his youngest brother August remained on the back until his death, while Johann Georg I as the new elector could be seen on the front. These were the last taler coins of this type from the Electorate of Saxony. The brothers of the sovereigns no longer appeared on the stamps of the Albertine line.

Types of coins and pieces

The Dreibrüdertaler are imperial coins minted according to the Reichsmünzfuß at 24 good groschen , which can be divided into three types:

  • Christian II., Johann Georg and August under guardianship (1591–1601):
    • First type: Taler with the portraits of the three brothers in the same amount (only from 1592)
    • Second type: Taler with the portraits of the three brothers at different levels (from 1592)
  • Christian II as elector with his two brothers (1601–1611):
    • Third type: Taler with the portrait of Christian on the front and the portraits of his two brothers on the back (from 1601).

Half, quarter and eighth thalers were also minted with the images of the three brothers.

Coin description

Christian II., Johann Georg and August under guardianship (1591–1601)

(First and second type of thaler)

Dreibrüdertaler from 1597 with portraits of the princes of different heights, mint master mark HB, Mint Dresden (diameter 40 mm; 29.15 g)

front

The front of the first two types of thaler show the portraits of the three underage brothers under the tutelage of Friedrich Wilhelm von Sachsen-Weimar. Only in the first coin type from 1592 do the princes appear in the same size and height in the coin image. The front stamp was changed in the same year. As the eldest brother and future elector of Albertine Saxony, Christian then appears taller than his two siblings.

The prince in the middle is Christian II. On the left of the picture (on the right side of Christian) is Johann Georg with his sword visibly attached , on the right of the picture August, the smallest prince. He is holding a flower in his right hand. Christian puts his arms over his brothers' shoulders. They are similar to the first type of jacket , over suspended cloak and ruff clothed. Above between the inscription is the imperial orb , underneath the arched number (1597), between the helmets on the right the mint master's mark HB (ligated), of the mint master Hans Biener, of the Dresden mint.

  • Inscription: CHRISTIAN (us) ۰ IOHAN (nes): GEORG (ius) ۰ ET۰ AVGVSTVS (continuation of the inscription on the reverse)

back

The back shows the triple helmeted 14-field coat of arms with a central shield in a rolled-up shield. The helmets are those from Thuringia (left), Saxony (center) and Meißen (right).

The fields of the coat of arms are as follows (from top to bottom):

- Left: Thuringia , Palatinate Saxony , Orlamünde , Altenburg , Regalien

- Middle: Saxony , Kurwappen, Landsberg , Magdeburg , Henneberg

- Right: Meißen , Palatinate Thuringia, rule Pleißen, Brehna , Regalien

  • Inscription: FRAT (res): ET ۰ DV - CES ۰ SAXON (iae) (continuation of the inscription on the front)
    • Translation of both sides: Christian, Johann Georg and August, brothers and dukes of Saxony.

Christian II as elector with his two brothers (1601–1611)

(Third type of coin)

Dreibrüdertalers from 1610, mintmaster mark HR, Mint Dresden. Christian II is shown as the elector. (Diameter 41 mm; 29.05 g)

front

The obverse of the third coin type shows the armored portrait of Elector Christian II with a field bandage , shouldering the Kurschwert . On the left in front of him is his helmet , in the field the divided year 16-10, between the inscription above the imperial orb and below the shield with the course swords.

back

The reverse shows the armored hip pictures of the two brothers with field armbands, Johann Georg on the left, August on the right, facing each other. Below is the coat of arms of the Duchy of Saxony , to the right of it the mint master's mark HR of the mint master Heinrich von Rehnen of the Dresden mint.

  • Transcription: IOHAN (nes): GEORG (ius): ET AVGVST (us) ۰ FRAT (res) ۰ ET D (uces): S (axoniae)
    • Translation: Johann Georg and August, brothers and dukes of Saxony.

Dreibrüdertaler with counterstamp

Jefimok from 1655 from a three-brother thaler from 1596

The circulation area of ​​the Dreibrüdertaler mainly covered Electoral Saxony and other states of the Holy Roman Empire. However, there are also known three-brother thalers with the counterstamp “ Saint George ” of the Russian Tsar Alexei Michailowitsch (1645–1667). They thus became the Russian currency with a value of 64  kopecks and are called Jefimok in numismatic usage . The name of these coins is derived from the Joachimstaler (Jefimok – Joachim), a guldengroschen , which was also named after the taler and the dollar because of its reliably high silver content .

The Jefimki, under Alexei Michailowitsch it were mainly German and Dutch thalers counterstamped in Moscow , remained in circulation until they were banned in 1659. However , they remained in use for longer in Ukraine .

The illustrated Jefimok from 1655 was made from a three-brother thaler from 1596 by counterstamping the thaler with two stamps.

See also

literature

  • Walther Haupt : Sächsische Münzkunde , Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974
  • Julius Erbstein , Albert Erbstein : Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history when listing the Hofrath Engelhardt'schen collection , Dresden 1888
  • Johann Friederich Klotzsch: Attempt of a Chur-Saxon coin history. Part 2. 1770 urn : nbn: de: gbv: 3: 1 to 646,203 ( digitale.bibliothek.uni-halle.de )
  • Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel: Saxonia Numismatica or medal cabinet of commemorative coins and pennies which the Chur and princes of the Albertine line minted and had made. Dresden, Frankfurt, Gotha 1714. 1st book (Reprint Transpress Verlag, Berlin 1981)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Kahnt: The great coin lexicon from A to Z. Regenstauf 2005, p. 102.
  2. ^ Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel: Saxonia Numismatica ... (1714), p. 312.
  3. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history ... (1888), p. 87: Testament of August 30, 1591.
  4. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history ... (1888), p. 87.
  5. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history ... (1888), p. 88: Takeover of government
  6. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history ... (1888), p. 88: Reception of the regalia
  7. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history ... (1888), p. 89.
  8. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history ... (1888), p. 93.
  9. ^ Johann Friederich Klotzsch: Attempt of a Chur-Saxon coin history. (1770), p. 415.
  10. ^ Paul Arnold: Elector August (1553–1586) and the Saxon coinage . In numismatic notebooks. No. 20, Dresden 1986, p. 13.
  11. ^ Johann Friederich Klotzsch: Attempt of a Chur-Saxon coin history. (1770), p. 416.
  12. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 226 (table)
  13. ↑ coinarchives: Quarter Thaler
  14. ↑ Christian A. Kohl: Taler sections of the Electorate of Saxony, the type catalog Albertinische line 1547-1763. Leipzig 1994, pp. 42/44.
  15. ^ Künker: 1 ⁄ 8 Dreibrüdertaler
  16. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history ... (1888), p. 98.
  17. ↑ Julius Erbstein, Albert Erbstein: Discussions in the field of the Saxon coin and medal history ... (1888), p. 98: Wappenfelder
  18. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 281/282: Explanation of the coat of arms
  19. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 263: inscription as Kurprinz
  20. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 263: Romanization as Elector
  21. ↑ Walther Haupt: Sächsische Münzkunde (1974), p. 270.
  22. ↑ Helmut Kahnt: The great coin dictionary from A to Z. Regenstauf 2005, p. 209.