1672 4 Mariengroschen Lippe-Detmold

Also, the catalog provides information on Lippe-Detmold:

The Counts of Lippe ruled over a small state in northwestern
Germany. In 1528/9 they became counts; in 1720 they were
raised to the rank of princes, but did not use the title until 1789.
Another branch of the family ruled the even smaller Schaumburg-
Lippe. Lippe joined North German Confederation in 1866, and
became part of the German Empire in 1871. When the insane
Prince Alexander succeeded to the throne in 1895, the main
branch reached an end, and a ten-year testamentary dispute
between the Biesterfeld and the Schaumburg-Lippe lines followed
- a Wilhelmine cause celebre. The Biesterfeld line gained
the principality in 1905, but abdicated in 1918. In 1947 Lippe was
absorbed by the German Land of North Rhine-Westphalia.
RULERS
Simon VI, 1563-1613
Simon VII, 1613-1627
Simon Ludwig, 1627-1636
Simon Philip, 1636-1650
Johann Bernhard, 1650-1652
Hermann Adolf, 1652-1666
Simon Heinrich, 1666-1697
Friedrich Adolf, 1697-1718

MINT OFFICIALS' INITIALS

IH/(e) 1671-95 Johann Hoffmann in Detmold

My thoughts on grade was VF-20.

jpbone,

With German States coins we see a phenomenon that we don't see with US coins. The rarer an item is, the more likely it is to have a higher value with US coins. But we don't always see that with German States coins, even in small mintages. There are hundreds of German 'states' and thousands of types of German States coins to collect with most of them having very modest mintages. The effect is that there are so many different types to collect, each one becomes kind of obscure and never really develops a defined demand for it. Most collectors stick to the larger silver coins (Thalers, and the like), and you see those maintain high values. It's definitely a situation where the collectors looking for that specific coin are just as rare as the coin itself.

When I try to figure a price on these rare German minors, I mentally price them in relation to other coin types from the same era, of the same size, of similar quality. You end up having to group them together to make any sense out of it all.