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newp: 1688 taler from Cologne

I managed to find an example of the 1688 DAV-5153 last month and I finally had a chance to image it this weekend. I haven't been at this too long, but from what I can determine they are failrly uncommon. The taler is a 1 year type to commemorate the sede vacante (empty seat) in the church after the death of the bishop Max Heinrich Herzog von Bayern on June 3, 1688. The obverse features St Peter and the reverse features a scene of the nativity scene with the 3 Magi. The bones of the Magi (the Three Wise Men), brought to the city in 1164, are kept in a golden sarcophagus in Cologne Cathedral.

The history of Cologne is quite impressive. The city was founded in 38 BC by Romans who settled on the Rhine. In 50 AD, Agrippina the Younger, wife of the Emperor Claudius, who was born in Cologne, asked for her home village to be elevated to the status of a colonia — a city under Roman law. In 80 AD water supply was built, which became one of the longest aqueducts of the Roman Empire. The first bishop was elected in 313. The city was the capital of a Roman province until occupied by the Franks in 459. In 785, Cologne became the seat of an archbishopric.

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    TwoKopeikiTwoKopeiki Posts: 9,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Man, you're on a roll with your SV collection! How many do you have left? They're all stunners, to boot imageimage
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    worldcoinguyworldcoinguy Posts: 2,999 ✭✭✭✭
    Thanks Roman! I have 9 of the 21+ german state sede vacante talers so far. I came up with that number after a thorough search of Krause, but I might have missed a couple. Once I get my hands on the zepernick book of talers & medals I should have a more accurate count. These coins are more scarce than I anticipated, but I'm in this one for the long haul.

    I have also been real happy with the german state sede vacante medals that I found, and I figure there are well over a hundred various 17th & 18th century german state sede vacante medals.

    -Brent
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    dizzleccdizzlecc Posts: 1,111 ✭✭✭
    Cool coin and design, thanks for sharing and the history lesson.
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