Owner Comments:
Teresa gracefully reclined on an ornate bench in the garden, taking in the crisp morning aroma hanging in the cool air wafting from the flowers. She was taking a break from the children, the royal husband, and everything having to do with the duties of the house and kingdom. This was her alone time - nobody could disturb her reposing in solitude. And there was a book, of course! In the hands of the queen rested a new tome of Jean Paul - a controversial artist of immense creativity which even after his death conjured an extraordinary reaction from the highest circles of Bavarian aristocracy. Some considered him a genius of the style of Romanticism, some considered him an utter failure; he could skillfully speculate on the readers’ love of emotional dramas, but one thing remained clear - Jean Paul was one of the literary pillars of Germany, and the queen adored his playful style and his engrossing plot twists. Her favorite work, of course, was “Titan,” which still aroused arguments in the German aristocracy. But today in the hands of the queen was one of the last classical works, “Levana or The Doctrine of Education,” written in Paul’s old age and containing the wisdom of a man unafraid to transmit it to another. The queen tried to find answers to questions that would cause her to awaken in the middle of the night and rob her of sleep and torture her until dawn: what will be the fate of her children, how to best maintain relations with her husband, how to be an exemplary woman, but most of all the futures of her children troubled her - how to raise and prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead of them. Within this emotional turmoil she was found by Ludwig - “What are we reading?” The King sat next to his wife and held her in a tight embrace. “Well of course, again Jean Paul!” Exclaimed Teresa. Ludwig’s face wrinkled as he thought to himself, surely there’s something more interesting than the empty musings of a man who even writes his own name in the French style… And this is even after the defeat of Napoleon! "Where is your patriotism, dear? Why not read something out of German classical literature, Goethe, or Schiller, for instance?” - and the King playfully hugged her again. “If Your Highness understood anything about literature,” retorted the queen, “then you would know that there exists nothing French in the writings of John Richter, barring the pseudonym. And even the pseudonym holds nothing in common with Napoleon, only to associate him with the great Russo. And nobody but Richter understood the depths of the woman’s soul, of my soul!” Within the eyes of the queen, tears welled. “Men are rude and uncouth, filled with vices and love for power and money - and we, the women, are called to carry the love, beauty, and wisdom of life. And then to transmit them to my children, who are in fact also your own children, my King! Your style of upbringing so far only consists of patting them on the head if they happen to be running by, entirely not enough to raise the next generation of the royal family,” and Teresa once again exhaled returning to her heavy thoughts from before. “And if you, Your Highness, would read Richter, you would understand how difficult it is to be a woman, and especially a queen raising her children while her own husband is busy collecting portraits of shameless courtesans! ” The King frowned, “Well, darling, please forgive your stupid and uneducated husband,” as he hugged Teresa tighter. “If you like Richter this much, then today I will assign the best sculptors in the kingdom to design a grand monument for your favorite author to be placed somewhere in his fatherland. I also promise to place his portrait in our Gallery of German Heroes so that future generations could be enlightened by the favorite author of my beautiful wife!” Ludwig completely fluttered seeing how Teresa melted at his side, feeling her aromatic perfume on his shoulder. “I will even do more - I will order a new Taler to be made glorifying a truly worthy author. Am I not a King?!” And with this Ludwig ended his tirade with a lengthy kiss, and with a single swoop melting the heart of his beloved wife.
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The monument to John Richter was finished and opened to the public in the year 1841 in his favorite city, Bayreuth, where the great novelist lived with his wife Carolina in their finest and most creative years. The famous sculptor Ludwig von Schwanthaler fashioned the monument out of bronze which was open on the 16th anniversary of the death of Jean Paul. The great Romantic was portrayed staring sadly into the distance with a feather in one hand and a book in the other. Born into a family in poverty, Richter continued his thorny path to the heights of the literary Olympus, but as if with all his image upheld one of his most famous aphorisms: “We wish for immortality not as the reward, but as the perpetuity of virtue.”
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German Talers since 1800 by John S. Davenport.
Bavaria, King Ludwig Series (1825 - 1848).
2 Taler 1841, J.P.F. RICHTER.
Davenport 586, KM 810, Thun 79, AKS 102, J.70, Schw. 26.
To Commemorate erection of statue to Richter in Bayreuth in 1841.
Obverse: Head of the Ludwig to the right, LUDWIG I KOENIG VON BAYERN.
Reverse: STANDBILD JEAN PAUL FRIEDRICH RICHTER'S ERRICHTET ZU BAYREUTH 1841, Statue of Richter.
Edge: ** VII E.F.M. ** DREY-EINHALB GULDEN.
37.1200 g., 0.9000 Silver, 1.0740 oz. ASW.
PCGS MS 62.
Large Commemorative coin, 2 Thalers of Ludwig I of Bavaria, so-called "Historic Thaler" - desirable piece for any German Coin collectors! This one was minted to Commemorate statue of Richter in Bayreuth. Uncirculated fields with attractive patina, some bronze toning on obverse! Single contact marks on the fields. Rare to find in MS state. Another great collectible and investment item!