Owner Comments:
1632. GERMANY, Augsburg (Stadt). Gustav II Adolf der Große (the Great). As King of Sweden, 1611-1632. Taler (42mm, 28.98 g, 12h). DAV-4543; Forster 240; KM A68. Swedish occupation issue. Dated 1632. (rosette) GVSTAV : ADOLPH : D : G · SVECO : GOTHO : VANDALO : REX · MAG, laureate, draped, and armored bust facing slightly right / PRINC : FINLAND : DVX ETHO : ET · CARDOM : ING, crowned coat-of-arms of Sweden. Stunning GEM, deep iridescent toning. NGC MS-65.
Ex Richard A. Jourdan Collection, purchased from Stephen Harvey, December 1992.
Augsburg’s coinage vividly records changes in the city’s leadership during the Thirty Years’ War. This taler was minted in the name of Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish king who occupied the predominantly Protestant city beginning in 1632. Only a few years after this coin was produced, the Habsburgs recaptured Augsburg, and the city resumed producing coins in the name of the Holy Roman Emperor.