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Silver Stag Collection (Stolberg-Stolberg)

By SilverStag

Stolberg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire located in the Harz mountain range in present-day Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was ruled by the former Holy Roman Empire's higher aristocracy - Stolberg dynasty, descendants of Heinrich I of Hohnstein (ruled 1222-1231). In 1538 two main lines of Stolberg (Stolberg-Stolberg) and Wernigerode (Stolberg-Wernigerode) were established. The younger line ruled in Stolberg (Stolberg-Stolberg) and Rossla (Stolberg-Rossla), often issuing coinage jointly. In 1714 the older Wernigerode line fell under Prussian domination, while the younger line was forced to recognize the suzerainty of the Electorate of Saxony in 1738. Later, at the Congress of Vienna (1815) all Stolberg territories were awarded to the Kingdom of Prussia. With that, Stolberg line, however, has not ceased to exist and enjoyed certain privileges and held heritable seats in the Prussian House of Lords. The head of each comital branch and his first-born son or heir presumptive in the Houses of Stolberg-Wernigerode, Stolberg-Stolberg, and Stolberg-Rossla were granted permission on 22 October 1890 and 1893 respectively by Emperor Wilhelm II to bear princely titles. In 1980 a branch of the line of Stolberg-Stolberg was incorporated into the Dutch nobility as counts without acknowledgment of their princely title. The output of the Harz silver mines belonging to the counts of Stolberg was often beyond the capacity of their several mints to turn into coins. Production of many coins was frequently ordered from mints in other territories, such as neighboring Mansfeld, or to city mints in Frankfurt am Main, Augsburg, etc., also sometimes mintmasters and die engravers were invited to work in Stolberg mints temporarily. Centuries long family control over rich silver mines and the skill of the best craftsmen and artists resulted in a series of beautiful coins we can enjoy today. As for me, I became interested in Stolberg coins after a local coin dealer sold me holed Stolberg-Stolberg 1/12 Thaler in near uncirculated condition for one dollar. Magnificent stag crafted by mint master Johann Jeremias Grundler (mint mark IIG) caught my eye right away. After reading literature on Stolberg family and the complicated history of their lands and relationships with rivals, I became fascinated by this small county. Within the following year, I sold most of the random US and world coins I owned before, thus limiting the scope of my numismatic interest to Stolberg coinage only. Nowadays my collection consists of over 40 coins from countships of Stolberg, Stolberg-Stolberg, Stolberg-Rossla, and Stolberg-Wernigerode. Stolberg coins are very hard to come by in the US, most of the sales happen through major German auction houses. The goal of this set is to assemble a type set of Stolberg-Stolberg circulation-type regular coinage in AU-MS grades. See more pictures of Silver Stag Collection at https://www.instagram.com/silver_stag/ Read more...

Silver Stag Collection (Stolberg-Stolberg)

By SilverStag

Owner Comments:

Gallery

NGC Expert Comments:

There are 50 slots in this set, and the owner presently is about a quarter of the way to completion, but what has been entered already is outstanding. Beginning with a very interesting introductory essay about the region and its history, the set presents some really attractive examples of this 18th Century coinage. All of the entries are illustrated obverse and reverse, revealing their very intricate engraving. A few standout pieces include 1717 IIG 1/24 thaler (MS 63), 1746-50 1/12 thaler (AU 58) and 1768-90 EFR 1/6 thaler (MS 62).

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