Purim thaler

Purimtaler is the name under which a thaler minted in Erfurt in 1632 is known. It has the number 4546 in the Davenport Taler Directory and is cited by Kirschner as an example of thought, display and mocking coins with a Jewish reference.

Historical background

When the thaler was minted, the Thirty Years War was raging and Erfurt was occupied by the troops of the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf . The thaler praises the victory of the Protestant King of Sweden over the imperial army under Tilly in the battle of Breitenfeld near Leipzig on 7 September ^July with a multi-line text on the back ( reverse ) ^./ September 17, 1631 ^greg..

On September 7, 1632, a "Purim Festival" was celebrated in Erfurt in memory of the reintroduction of the Protestant sermon and the victory at Breitenfeld that took place a year earlier. The rescue of the Jews in the Persian Empire, of which the Jewish Purim is remembered, was paralleled with the rescue of the Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire by Gustav Adolf.

The thaler was struck on the occasion of this commemoration. Kroha describes the taler as "shrouded in legend" because Gustav Adolf was killed in the battle of Lützen two months after the coin was issued.

Inscriptions

front

Transcription

Gustavus Adolphus a Domino missus vivat

"Gustav Adolf, sent by the Lord, live!"

center

YHWH in the halo; including:

Dextera tua Domine percussit inimicum

“Your right hand, Lord, has smashed the enemy” ( Ex 15.6 LU ).

back

Transcription

This Purim Evangelicor [um] A [nno] MDCXXXII VII Sept [embris] Erfurti celebrati

"Purim days of the Evangelicals, celebrated in Erfurt on September 7th in 1632"

center

Deo ter opt [imo] max [imo] gloria et laus, qui Gustavo Adolpho Svecorum Gothorum Wand [orum] que Regi contra caesareanum ac ligisticum exercitum victoriam tribuit ad Lipsiam the VII sept [embris] anno MDCXXXI

"God, three times the best and greatest, be honor and praise, Gustav Adolf, the king of the Swedes, Goths and Wends, against the imperial and league army granted the victory at Leipzig on September 7, 1631."

Web links

Figure (Numispedia)
Figure (ma-shops.com)

supporting documents

^ Bruno Israel Kirschner (1939) Judaica in nummis. Monthly for the History and Science of Judaism 83: 590-605
↑ ^a ^b ^c Purim Talers. In: Tyll Kroha: Lexicon of Numismatics. Bertelsmann Lexikon-Verlag, Gütersloh 1977, ISBN 3-570-01588-2 , p. 347.
↑ Dominik Fugger (2013) In the shadow of Saturnalia. In: Dominik Fugger (Ed.) Inverted Worlds? Research on the motif of ritual inversion. Walter de Gruyter, pp. 11–38

[1] Bruno Israel Kirschner (1939) Judaica in nummis. Monthly for the History and Science of Judaism 83: 590-605

[Kroha-2] Purim Talers. In: Tyll Kroha: Lexicon of Numismatics. Bertelsmann Lexikon-Verlag, Gütersloh 1977, ISBN 3-570-01588-2 , p. 347.

[3] Dominik Fugger (2013) In the shadow of Saturnalia. In: Dominik Fugger (Ed.) Inverted Worlds? Research on the motif of ritual inversion. Walter de Gruyter, pp. 11–38