My Frankfurt-On-The-Main 1863 Project

Wow really nice coin. I don't have that much to offer myself this Christmas.

Bacchus, the page is filling up nicely!
I have a suggestion for you. Since this project is inspired by the photograph of people you should try to find "objects" with the images of all people. I'm talking about mayors and certain princes who never appear on coins. While you could (and should) keep all the coins (it would be an absolute shame not to have that Frankfurt thaler) you should try to find medals with those people. It might be easier to get a hold of Heinrich of Luxembourg and Netherlands than Dr. Muller, but that's a good news because the 10 centimes, frankly, looks like a runt in this company.
Feel free to ignore my suggestion , it's just that I collect "effigies" of British royalty and I got into medals lately (since my coin collection is quite saturated by now).

I've managed to add another 19th century crown coin to my stash :) I've added it to this thread as it is contemporary. However it is easily the hardest coin to photograph I have ever had. I'm not sure why. I'll have another go at it - but whatever it is about this coin it seems to defy my best attempts. It's actually quite nice "in-hand". If anyone is interested in how my "Crown's of the world" is stacking up - I have most of them listed here..

http://www.diadumenian.com/Congress...0crowns.html





Victor Emmanuel II
1873 5 Lira
Ob. VITTORIA EMANUELE II
Rev. REGNO D'ITALIA
Edge: FERT FERT FERT
Silver 0.9000
Weight: 25.0g
mintage: 8,438,000
Mint: Milan

I'm not really sure what "FERT FERT FERT" around the edge means. so if anyone can help there that woulc be appreciated.

Another addition..

This is the dealers picture - though I do have it in hand - my PC is playing up so it might be a while before I get a chance to photograph and process it properly.




Carl Alexander
1858 1 Thaler
Ob. CARL ALEXANDER GROSSHERZOG VON SACHEN
Rev. EIN VEREINSTHALER XXX EIN PFUND FEIN
Edge: GOTT UND RECHT
Silver 0.7500
22.27g
mintage: 63,000
Mint:
MM: ?



Karl Alexander, born on June 24th 1818 was the ruler of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach fron 1853 until his death on January 5th 1901. He was born in Weimar and was the second son of his parents, (Karl Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia) the first having died in early life.

The family of the grandduke stands at the head of the Ernestine or elder line of the princely houses of Saxony which include Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, while the younger or Albertine line is represented by the kings of Saxony.

Saxe-Weimar was firmed into an independent duchy towards the end of the 16th century, when ElectorJohann Wilhelm of Saxony divided his territory between his two sons, Frederick Wilhelm and Johann, giving the former Saxe-Altenburg and the latter Saxe-Weimar. There were frequent divisions subsequently, until by the extinction of branch lines, the original family estates were again obtained. At the congress of Vienna, a considerable increase of territory together with the title of grandduke was awarded to Duke Charles Augustus, the celebrated patron of German literature and friend of Gothe and Schiller.

The grandduke has a large private fortune part of which he received in dowry with his consort, Princess Sophie of the Netherlands. He also had a civil list of 280,000 thalers (£41,000) which equated to one sixth of the revenue of Saxe Weimar. His tutor in childhood was Frederic Soret who later became a close friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. As a young man he was a close friend of the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen but this friendship ended over the first German Danish war in 1849. While his father died on July 8th 1853 allowing him to become grandduke and ruler, he postponed his accession until August 28th to correspond with Goethe's birthday. As Grand Duke he renovated Wartburg Castle, and patronised the composers Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt as well as continuing the tradition of becoming president of Jena University. This university housed some notable collections, among them a substantial coin cabinet of oriental coins, which he particually supported.

The constitution of the Grand duchy was granted on May 5 1816, but slightly altered by the law of October 15 1849. According to this charter the legislative power is vested in a House of Parliament, represented by one chamber. It is composed of 31 members, 10 chosen by the nobility, 10 by the towns, 10 by the inhabitants of the rural districts and one by the University of Jena. At the general election, which takes place every 7 years, not only the representatives themselves are chooses, but also a substitute for every member, who must take their place in the event of death or incapacity. The 10 members of the nobility are elected directly by all proprietors of Ritterguter or noble estates. Women were also allowed to vote.

In it's representation of towns and rural districts the mode of election is indirect. The whole body of voters in a town choose a certain number of delegates, in the proportion of 1 to every 50 houses, and it is these deputies who elect the member for the Parliament. To be a member for a town a property qualification of about £50 per annum was required, which rose to £75 per annum for the cities of Weimar and Eisenach.

The election of members for the rural districts took place in the same manner as that for the towns, but the choice of members is limited, as they had to belong to the same class as the electors.

Two brothers or a father and son was allowed to sit in the chamber at the same time. The president of the chamber was an Earl-Marshal, elected by the deputies of the nobility. He was assisted by two vice-presidents chosen from the representatives of the town and rural districts.

The grandduke kept a private retinue of 37 horseguards which he maintained out of his private funds.

The grand-duchy was divided into three "Kreise" or circles. Weimar was the most populas with 140,772 in the population and an area of 693 square miles, Eisenach had a population of 82,444 and covered 485 square miles and Neustadt had a population of 50,036 and covered 243 square miles.

Hi Christian,

Thanks for that clarification. In the UK, the official geography below County is Distirct Council (broadly speaking) and below that ward (a sort of electoral area). Actually, here in NI, county is not an officially used geography - though in everyday use it is referred to widely - but no government wok is divided into counties. I think in other parts of the UK it is more commonly used within government.

Thanks again for chipping in and I'm glad you like the project.

Had not really noticed your question about FERT on the edge of the Italian coin. Well, it is an abbreviation, but there are various theories about what that means. :) See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FERT The Italian version (click on "Languages" > "Italiano" on the left) is much more detailed but does not provide the ultimate answer either ...

The "B" mintmark on the Oldenburg Vereinsthaler has a dual meaning so to say: As you wrote, the coin was minted in Hannover. Until 1866, the year on your coin, that city was the capital of the Kingdom of Hannover, and in those years (1844-66) the B referred to the mintmaster Theodor Wilhelm Brüel. When Prussia annexed the country (Hannover that is, not Oldenburg), it kept the Hannover mint for a while (until 1878) which then used the very same B, except that now it was part of the Prussian and then German alphabetical mintmark system.

Christian

My latest addition....

Unfortunately my PC crashed recently and I lost my settings to my website so I can't update it. The administrator has sold the hosting site and I can't contact the new one .. it may take some time before I can update that. That's also the reason why I have not been updating my Czech thread... but I'll get around to finishing it too




Frederich Franz
1864 1 Thaler
Ob. FREDERICH FRANZ V. G.G. GROSSH. V. MECKLENB. SCHW.
Rev. EIN THALER XXX EINE PF.F.
Edge: PER AIPERA * AD ASTRA
Silver 0.9000
Weight: 18.52g, 33mm
mintage: 100,000
Mint: Berlin
MM:





Frederick Francis II was born on February 28th 1823 and rulled from 1842 until his death on April 15th 1883. He was born in Schloss Ludwigslust and became heir apparant in 1837 following the death of his great grandfather after whom he was named. He had the benefit of a private education until he went to the Blochmann Institute in Dresden in 1838 and then on to the University of Bonn where he studied philosophy and theology. During the second Schleswig war he served on the general staff of field marshall von Wrangel. During the Austro Prussian war he was in command of the forces that occupied Leipzig abd which laid siege to Nuremburg. During the Franco Prussian war he was made Governor General or Reims and commanded the forces laying siege to Toul. He defended the Prussian forces during the Diege of Paris and defeated French forces at the battles of Beaune-le-Rolande and Beaugency. He held both the ranks of Prussian General and that of a Russian General Field Marshall. Frederick Francis II was also a Lutherian.

The Grand-ducal house of Meclenburg was the only reigning family in Europe of Slavic origin and it claimed to be the oldest sovereign house in the Western World. The ruling dukes full title included "Princes of the Vandles" and they can trace their decent back to Genseric, King of the Vandles who ravage Spain and Portugal in the 5th century. The states of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Mecklenburg-Schwerin were one state prior to 1701, but at that date the separation took place.

Fredrick Franz had no civil list nor any other grant from the state. His income consisted of the revenue of the domains and it was valued at 800,000 thalers per annum. He also was the sole owner of a railway running from Gustrow to Neu-Brandenburg, a distance of 55 miles. The court expenditure ran at some 550,000 thalers (more than the administration of the state). The Crown estates comprised nearly one-fifth of the entire duchy and were valued at 80,000,000 thalers and also considered to be the private property of the duke.

The entire population in 1861 consisted of 548,449 individuals on 4,834 square miles of land. The laws of the land and conditions had changed little from feudal times. Indeed in 1864 a bill was passed allowing landed proprietors to condem labourers for simple "neglect of service" and a weeks imprisonment and 25 blows of a stick