Salzburg Klippes and some history

Zohar

A klippe is a square coin minted on more easily produced square flans either using round or square dies. These coins were originally issued under unfavourable conditions, such as a city under siege. Such emergency coinage were issued in Vienna in 1529, while the city was besieged by the troops of the Ottoman Empire. However, by the seventeenth century, klippe were also commonly produced as presentation pieces or awards.

In the late 16th century, the Ottoman Empire tried to conquer entire Europe. The Balkans was completely occupied, the front line had moved to Hungary, but parts of Carinthia and Styria suffered from the attacks as well. The diocese of Salzburg owned some property in the region and on October 28th, 1592, Bishop Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau sent 1.000 soldiers at his own expense and led by his uncle Jakob Hannibal I of Hohenems to the Habsburg emperor as auxiliary troops for the Turkish wars. These soldiers returned a year later without having been involved in a single military action. Wolf Dietrich distributed gold coins and a Taler to the participants according to their rank. Contemporary sources connect the ‘tower in storm’ taler of 1593 with the reward Wolf Dietrich had earned for sending his troops against the Turks.

1593 1/2 Taler of Storm Klippe



1593 2 Taler of Storm Klippe (4 times the weight)

JCMhouston

Very nice group, and a history lesson to boot.

Garneteye

Great pictures and write-up, thanks.

bidask

Very nice examples

Silvereagle82

I've always like klippes and the history behind them. Salzburg klippes were also minted in gold with the same basic designs of Zohar's talers.
I see them, and have bid on some, in auctions from time to time but they are scarce and thus very $$$$$$$ .... and of course I haven't ever been successful in picking one up.
Thanks for sharing the pics and history

lordmarcovan

I love klippes. Had to have one for my Holey Coin Vest.

I traded a really nice Spanish Colonial Peru 2-reales piece for this one, as I recall. (From whom? I'd have to check PM history. Coinpictures, maybe? Geez, I forget.) Yeah, it's Nurnberg and not Salzburg, but close enough, right?

Anyway, this is one of my favorite holeys. I know I've shown it before. I just love that the little kid with a stick horse. And one nice thing about a klippe that's been holed is that often the hole is outside the design and therefore can't be considered as much of a "problem". These pieces were natural choices for coin jewelry for centuries, I'd imagine, so it's no surprise that a lot of them also have mounts on them.



That one is currently off in the mail with the rest of my holey collection, which is going to be photographed for the first time. Previously, I've only had pictures of a few favorites, like this piece, and not terribly good pictures, at that.

lordmarcovan

PS- I've always like Salzburg pieces, too. That's St. Rupert there, with the miter and crozier, right? Cool coins. You've got some dazzling stuff, as I've said before.


Here is a half-thaler I owned, briefly.

cacheman

Sweet Zohar!


Here was Goetz' take on the design when he created a series of notgeld coin patterns for the City of Laufen.


St. Rupertus Notgeld Patterns

DorkGirl

I have really been enjoying the resurgence of these types of threads here. Thanks!

Zohar

updated images

lordmarcovan

Man, I love klippes. I've only ever owned two, and neither were anywhere near par with those, but I do admire them.

Something about square coins is just neat. Even non-klippe square pieces. I like octagonal coins, too.