Willow Tree Thaler

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Weidenbaumtaler, Mmz. GK, a third variant from 1637 (compare with 1637 GK and 1637 LH)

Weidenbaumtaler is the name for a thaler that was minted in numerous variants from 1627 to 1639 by Landgraves Wilhelm V (1627–1637) and Wilhelm VI. (1637–1663) from Hessen-Kassel , who shows a willow in a storm on one side , which should actually be a palm tree , and on the other the state coat of arms or just the Hessian lion .

Historical connections

Landgrave Wilhelm V von Hessen-Kassel took over a devastated and financially ruined country from his father Landgrave Moritz in March 1627, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War . In addition there was a separate war , the inheritance dispute with Hessen-Darmstadt . The new Landgrave initially tried to improve the country's financial situation:

Amalie Elisabeth von Hanau-Münzenberg, "the most admired woman of her time" (portrait as a young woman by C. G. Geyser )

“It has already been noted under Moritz how the disruption of the coinage system [has risen] […] to what extent the coins were struck by coin tenants in Hesse and delivered with the poorest grades . [...] Wilhelm tried hard to rebuild his country and immediately after his accession to the throne had such enormous masses of imperial coins struck [...]. He wanted to cure the evil that had penetrated into the marrow of his country at once [...], seek to remedy the unheard-of lack of good money as quickly as possible and had [...] single and double thalers beat in unprecedented quantities [...] [also] those the continuously unavoidable war costs [made] unusual sums of cash necessary. "

Landgrave Wilhelm's dismissal of Hanau and his Swedish-French alliance resulted in Emperor Ferdinand II ostracizing him as an enemy of the Reich on August 19, 1636 and appointing Georg II of Hessen-Darmstadt to be the administrator of his country. The invasion of the dreaded Croatian imperial regiments in Hesse in 1637 was intended to punish Wilhelm's adherence to this alliance. The devastating punitive action of the imperial army in Hessen-Kassel, the terrible atrocities of war and the devastation of the country stuck in the memory of the population as the “Croatian year”.

The coin image of the Weidenbaumtaler is not only the symbol of the persistence of Wilhelm V, who remained true to the Protestant doctrine and his principles despite all war attacks and persecutions, but can also be used as a symbol for the great, devastating war.

Wilhelm V fled with his army to East Frisia , where he died on October 1, 1637 at the age of 35 in the camp in Leer . His widow Amalie Elisabeth von Hanau-Münzenberg took over the reign of her underage son over a divided, devastated country. She let the Weidenbaumtaler continue to be minted like her deceased husband had them minted until 1639. In 1650 her son Wilhelm VI. take over the reign and rule the country. She had achieved that the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel was secure and stable when her son took over. According to Hoffmeister, she was "the most admired woman of her time".

Special features of the coinage

The numerous variants

The differences in the coin image on the reverse are particularly numerous. These are z. B. the number of rays or bundles of rays of the radiant name of Jehovah , the different buildings (even without buildings), the pasture in detail, as well as the representation of the storm.

"The many stamps of his Thalers", says Hoffmeister,

“[…] Which one certainly does not fully know yet and of which I myself discover new ones almost every day, rest […] from the incompleteness of the stamping tools at that time , which now had to run unusually under Wilhelm V because there were no other prince Masses of silver were minted in such a short time. [...] One (von Schwarzenau) holds z. B. the strikingly many stamp differences of the Thaler from 1627 [wrongly] consistently for thought forms [...]. "

The coins of the reigns in 1637

Wilhelms VI's Weidenbaumtaler were minted under the reign of his mother Amalie Elisabeth von Hanau-Münzenberg, as Wilhelm was only eight years old when his father died. She let the Weidenbaumtaler continue to be minted for two years after her husband's death. It is unclear which coins struck in 1637 can still be attributed to the reign of Wilhelm V, and which already to their guardianship . Hoffmeister explains the problem as follows:

“With the coins that she had struck, she kept exactly the stamp of her husband, so that from the year of his death in 1637 some coins were certainly already in the reign of Wilhelm VI. which, however, in the case of the never-to-be- resolved doubt in coinage, is only allowed to begin with the year 1638 by assigning all coins from 1637 to Wilhelm V. "

The time of her reign, i.e. her guardianship, belongs in the mint to the reign of Wilhelm VI.

The willow that a palm should be

It is very likely that a palm tree should be represented as a symbol of strength, as can probably still be seen on the thaler from 1628, but the die cutters of the later embossing cut the image of a tree into the die, which is more like an elastic willow.

The willow tree in its character, according to Hoffmeister, has unfortunately become "established linguistic usage ".

“The fact that the tree appearing in the mints is a willow tree, which as such would have no meaning at all, has unfortunately become such a generally widespread and established linguistic usage through most of the coin works [...] that it can no longer be easily displaced; But let it be said sufficiently that the palm tree, which is stormed and bowed by all weather, but remains unshaken and erect under the protection of the deity in the image of the sun, must certainly be a symbol for Wilhelm V, the constant, who must be used in all storms of war and in spite of persecutions [...] held fast [to his] disposition until death ! "

Coin descriptions

The willow tree coins were minted in silver from the eighth reichstaler to the triple reichstaler . They exist in gold from the guilder to the extremely rare 10 ducat piece , a gold strike from the stamps of the willow tree double thaler.

The pieces described are a selection of the willow tree coins.

Thaler from 1628

Weidenbaumtaler from 1628, Mmz. TS

The coin is a Reichstaler from Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hessen-Kassel. The diameter is 44 mm, the weight 28.72 g.

front

The front shows the triple helmeted heraldic shield with six fields (including two empty ones) and the Hessian lion as a central shield . The helmet in the middle between the helmets of Katzenelnbogen and Ziegenhain is the Hessian landgrave helmet . Between the horns of the helmet are the intertwined letters "TS", the mint master's mark of Terenz Schmidt, the mint master of the Kassel mint (1621–1634).

  • Transcription: WILHELM (us) ∙ D (ei) ∙ G (ratia) ∙ LAND (gravius) ∙ HASS (iae) ∙ ADMI (nistrator) ∙ HIRS (feldensis) ∙ C (omes) ∙ C (attimeliboci) ∙ D (iziae ) ∙ Z (iegenhainae) ∙ E (t) ∙ N (iddae) ∙

back

The image on the reverse shows a tree bent by storm rain and lightning, which on this coin probably looks more like a palm than a willow, which is under the radiant name of Jehovah .

  • Transcription: DEO ∙ VOLENTE ∙ HUMILIS ∙ LEVABOR ∙ ANNO ∙ 1628 (differences: DEO / UNO / IEHOVA VOLENTE ...)
    • Translation: God willing, I will be exalted (from my lowliness). In 1628. Other versions of the translation have the same meaning.

The legend is the motto of Landgrave Wilhelm V. The tree that does not fall despite all the adversities is the symbol for it.

Thaler from 1632

Weidenbaumtaler from 1632, Mmz. TS, with unusual image change

The coin is a Reichstaler from Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hessen-Kassel. The diameter is 44 mm, the weight 29.14 g.

front

The front shows the crowned oval heraldic shield in an ornamental cartouche with six fields (including two empty ones) and the Hessian lions as a middle shield, as well as the divided year 16 - 32. To the right of the heraldic shield are the entwined letters "TS".

  • Transcription: WILHELM (us) ∙ D (ei): G (ratia): LANDGRAVI (us) ∙ HASSIÆ ∙ COM (es): C (attimeliboci): D (iziae): Z (iegenhainae): ET ∙ N (iddae) : (9 stands for us)
    • Translation: Wilhelm by God's grace, Landgrave of Hesse, Count of Katzenelnbogen, Diez, Ziegenhain and Nidda.

back

The reverse side shows a willow tree bent by storm, rain and lightning under the radiant name of Jehovah. In the background there are buildings behind a wall. On closer inspection, a detail can be seen in the coin image that does not belong to the symbol. This is an unclothed corpse lying in the front right of the picture . The unusual detail is missing in other thalers. An explanation or another coin like this cannot be found, not even in the antiquarian books with numerous coinage variants. Perhaps the die cutter wanted to express the horrors of war himself.

The engraving of a detail in the stamp, which does not belong there, can be based on specific circumstances, be explainable:

"The fact that the different dies of the same coin from the same year contain deviations is most likely just an idiosyncratic work of the die cutter [...], without the government having taken any special notice [...]."

There were two serious events in the year of this special thaler. In 1632 Gustav II Adolf fell in the battle of Lützen . That was also the end of the alliance with Hessen-Kassel and the end of the military success of Wilhelm V. Gustav Adolf's body was robbed and found partly stripped from among many dead. In the same year there was also the plague . Under normal circumstances it is impossible for the die cutter to bring his own views into the coin image. However, under the special circumstances of coinage mentioned by Hoffmeister, this can be explained, especially since the detailed representation is actually only clear in the enlargement and, according to Hoffmann, "the government will have taken [no] special note [of the stamp deviations]".

The actual meaning of this deviation from the coin image is unknown.

  • Transcription: VNO. VOLENTE. HUMILIS. LEVABOR (see translation before)

Gold strike from the double thaler stamps from 1634

Gold strike from the double thaler stamps of the willow tree double thaler from 1634 at 10 ducats, Mmz. TS

The coin is a gold strike from the double thaler stamps of 10 ducats from Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hessen-Kassel. The diameter is 48 mm, the weight 35.29 g. It is probably one of a kind .

front

The front shows the crowned oval heraldic shield in an ornamental cartouche with six fields (including two empty ones) and the Hessian lion as a central shield. The helmet in the middle between the helmets of Katzenelnbogen and Ziegenhain is the Hessian landgrave helmet. Between the horns of the helmet are the intertwined letters "TS", Terenz Schmidt's mint master's mark.

  • Inscription: The inscription corresponds to the thaler from 1632 (see there). The legend also includes the year in Roman numerals (MDCXXXIIII) and the symbol "clover leaf".

back

The reverse side shows a willow tree bent by storm rain and lightning under the shining name of Jehovah. There are buildings in the background. The sign “clover leaf” is in the legend.

  • Transcription: IEHO V A ∙ V OLENTE ∙ H UMILIS ∙ L EVABOR (translation see thaler from 1628)

The larger letters (the acrostic ) VVHL in the transcription mean W ILHELMUS H ASSIAE L ANDGRAVIUS (Wilhelm Hessens Landgraf).

Double thaler from 1635

Willow tree double thaler from 1635, Mmz. LH

The coin is a wide double thaler from Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hessen-Kassel. The diameter is 48 mm, the weight 56.85 g.

front

The obverse shows the Hessian lion, underneath the split mintmaster's mark L – H of the mintmaster Lubert Haussmann of the Kassel mint (1635–1638) with a clover leaf between the mintmaster's initials. The inscription is in an outer and an inner circle.

  • Outer inscription: WILHELM (us) ∙ D (ei): G (ratia): LANDGRAVI (us) ∙ HASSIÆ ∙ COM (es): C (attimeliboci): D (iziae): Z (iegenhainae) ∙ E (t) ∙ N (iddae): ANNO: MDCXXXV ∙ (9 stands for us)
    • Translation: Wilhelm by God's grace, Landgrave of Hesse, Count of Katzenelnbogen, Diez, Ziegenhain and Nidda, in 1635.
  • Inside inscription: FATA CONSILIIS POTIORA
    • Translation: Fate [is] mightier than plans. (Basically: "Man thinks, fate directs.")

back

The image on the reverse and the inscription correspond to the gold strike from 1634.

Thaler 1637 GK and 1637 LH

Weidenbaumtaler from 1637, Mmz. GK
Weidenbaumtaler from 1637, Mmz. LH

The coins are Reichstaler from Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hessen-Kassel. The diameter of both coins is 44 mm, the weight 28.72 g (mint master mark GK) and 29.14 g (mint master mark LH)

The obverse of both talers, which were minted in the year Wilhelm V died, show the Hessian lion. The coin with the split mintmaster's mark G - K and the crossed hooks was minted by the mint master Georg Kruckenberg (1637–1640) of the Kassel mint. The other one with the mint master's mark L - H of the mint master Lubert Haussmann, also a mint in Kassel, has a clover leaf as an additional mark.

The reverse side of both thalers show a willow tree bent by storm, rain and lightning under the radiant name of Jehovah. There are buildings in the background.

The differences in the front and back of the thalers of a given year are striking. The comparatively emaciated Hessian lion of the thaler with the mint master's mark G - K can express the devastating situation in Hessen-Kassel, the devastated and divided country in the Thirty Years War. The six-pointed star between the lion's paws is missing from this thaler.

The inscriptions of the two coins correspond to the thaler from 1632 (see there). The reverse side contains an acrostic that gives the name of Landgrave Wilhelm V (see gold strike from 1634).

See also

literature

  • Friedrich von Schrötter (eds.) With N. Bauer, K. Regling, A. Suhle, R. Vasmer , J. Wilcke: Dictionary of Coin Studies , de Gruyter, Berlin 1970 (reprint of the original edition from 1930)
  • Heinz Fengler, Gerd Gierow, Willy Unger: transpress Lexikon Numismatics , Berlin 1976
  • Helmut Kahnt: The large lexicon of coins from A to Z , Regenstauf 2005
  • N. Douglas Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins 1601 to Present , 1995, p. 389 die Münzmeister
  • Wolfgang Eichelmann: Hessian coins and medals - thoughts and reflections on coins and medals of the House of Brabant , Hamburg 2010. Therein the palm tree and willow tree ...
  • Künker auction 220, 2012: Landgrave Wilhelm V. and VI., Weidenbaumtaler from p. 39
  • Historical description of the Landgräflich-Hessische Whole and Half Thaler ..., Regensburg, published by Keyserischer Verlag 1784: From page 59, History of Wilhelm V.
  • Jakob C. C. Hoffmeister: Hessische Münzkunde , Cassel 1847
  • Jacob Christoph Carl Hoffmeister: Historical-critical description of all Hessian coins, medals and brands that have become known so far, in genealogical-chronological order , first volume, Cassel 1857

References and comments

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Eichelmann: Hessian coins and medals - thoughts and considerations ... (2010): 1637 to 1639
  2. ↑ Heinz Fengler, ...: transpress Lexikon Numismatik ..., p. 415 (however until 1639, also coined by Wilhelm VI under guardianship)
  3. ^ Künker auction 220, 2012, p. 39: Landgrave Wilhelm V.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Eichelmann: Hessian coins and medals - thoughts and reflections ... (2010)
  5. ↑ Coin tenant: - See the example of bad coinage for an explanation
  6. ↑ Jacob C. C. Hoffmeister: Historical-critical description of all Hessian coins known up to now ... (1857), p. 217: Zerrüttung des Finanzwesens
  7. ↑ Künker auction 220, 2012, p. 39: Landgrave Wilhelm V., ostracism by Ferdinand II.
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Eichelmann: Hessian coins and medals - thoughts and reflections ... (2010)
  9. ↑ Künker auction 220, 2012, p. 39: died in Leer
  10. ↑ Künker auction 220, 2012, p. 49
  11. ^ Jacob C. C. Hoffmeister: Historical-critical description of all Hessian coins known so far ... (1857) p. 218
  12. ↑ Jacob C. C. Hoffmeister: Historical-critical description of all Hessian coins known up to now ... (1857), p. 217: the many stamp variants
  13. ^ Jacob C. C. Hoffmeister: Historical-critical description of all Hessian coins known so far ... (1857), p. 218
  14. ↑ Jacob C. C. Hoffmeister: Historical-critical description of all Hessian coins known so far ... (1857), p. 226
  15. ^ N. Douglas Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins 1601 to Present , 1995, p. 389: - the mint master data in the article
  16. ↑ Heinz Fengler, ...: transpress Lexikon Numismatics ..., p. 415
  17. ↑ Jacob C. C. Hoffmeister: Historical-critical description of all Hessian coins known so far ... (1857): see variants on Wilhelm V .: From the year 1632 the mint no. 938 – no. 957. (Pp. 244–247)
  18. ↑ Jakob C. C. Hoffmeister: Hessische Münzkunde (1847): see variants on Wilhelm V.
  19. ↑ Jacob C. C. Hoffmeister: Historical-critical description of all Hessian coins that have now become known ... , third volume (1866): see variants on Wilhelm V.
  20. ^ Johann Leopold Montag (Ed.): Considerable supply of Thalern and showpieces of the Landgräflich-Hessische Gesammthaus ..., Regensburg 1776: see variants on Wilhelm V.
  21. ↑ Julius and Albert Erbstein: The Knights of Schulthess Rechberg'sche coin and medal collection : Second section (1869): see variants on Wilhelm V.
  22. ↑ Jakob C. C. Hoffmeister: Hessische Münzkunde, Cassel 1847, p. 124
  23. ↑ Wolfgang Eichelmann: Hessian coins and medals - thoughts and considerations ... (2010): Pestwellen
  24. ^ Jakob CC Hoffmeister: Hessische Münzkunde, Cassel 1847, p. 115