1547 "Moon" German Thaler

What a cool design on such an old piece.

That's a great design for sure!

That is a fantastic coin! And with an unusual motif, for sure.

Not knowing anything about these coins, but I just had to find out why on earth the city of Lüneburg chose to have the Man in the Moon on its coins . And there is a reason, of course, and I thought I might as well share my findings with you.

The crescent moon is actually part of the large coat of arms of Lüneburg, as can be seen on for instance the 2 thaler in this Numista link (look to the top left): https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces297225.html

As I suspected, and which is hinted at in one of the auction links @collector.detector provided, it has to do with associating the Latin word for the moon, luna, with the name Lüneburg. The Latin name for Lüneburg is Lunaburgum - Moon City - and according to a medieval myth the name stems from that Julius Caesar founded a temple on a nearby mountain in honor of the goddess Luna when he and his armies campaigned in Northern Germany.

A good story, and maybe useful at the time to promote the historical importance of the city as part of the Holy Roman Empire. But, just a story ... Caesar never reached that far north in Germany, and he didn't particularly revere Luna.

Instead, the Luna/Lüne part of the city's name may come from the Langobardic word hliuni, meaning "refuge site."

The inscription, VISITAVIT NOS ORIENS EX ALTO, also intrigued me. Something like "visited us from the east high" - perhaps something to do with the moon and its rising in the east?

Nope. It is part of a Bible citation: Luke 1:78, "per viscera misericordiae Dei nostri, in quibus visitavit nos, oriens ex alto," which in the King James translation is "through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us." This passage from the Bible is about John the Baptist, who is patron saint for Walsrode Abbey, the oldest monastery (founded 986) in the Principality of Lüneburg. Also, St John's Church in Lüneburg is the city's oldest church. So it is all about St John, who is also depicted on some other Lüneburg coins.

Thank you for sharing this very interesting coin!

Thank YOU for the history!

I've seen a number of these floating around the market. Recently, there was one (1 Taler or 1/2 Taler IIRC) graded NGC AU53 listed on ebay by NFC (The Numismatic Financial Corporation). It was there a few days ago in their list of items for sale, but now it is not. They could just be in the process of re-listing it. Their price was $3.500 USD. I submitted a request to TNFC for more infos about the coin. Searching their inventory, the design caught my eye and I started to read old auction records. It seems to be legitimately rare, with multiple design types on top of the multiple denominations (e.g. 1/2 and 1/4 Taler).

Nice research erafjel. Thank you.

One (Taler) was included in the Garrett collection so it must have been important within numismatic circles at that time. The Goldberg re-sale of the Garrett specimen:

https://auctions.goldbergcoins.com/...n-Taler-1547

If I find out anything additional I shall post it here.
TNF states that their specimen is no longer for sale and that they have no infos.

Edit: Found this short video -

It is not very scarce. One can find 74 sales on acsearch over the last 15 years, which does not fit my definition of scarce.

But it is a popular type, so it is valuable.

Thanks to all for the education and info on the "Moon" coin.

KK