Gold and Silver from Christian IV

The biggest coin auction of the spring will be held at Bruun Rasmussen in Copenhagen on Tuesday 8 May, where 530 hand-picked coins, medals and banknotes will come under the hammer. The biggest highlight is an extremely large 4 Speciedaler from 1624, made of silver from the Norwegian mountains at Kongsberg west of Oslo.

The auction includes material all the way back from antiquity and up to the 20th century, but there is an unusually fine collection from the 17th century that deserves to be mentioned here. It is especially the coins from Denmark's popular King Christian IV (1588-1648) that stand out. The collection sheds light on many of the aspects of the interesting and turbulent currency production of the time.

The first Danish kroner coin, "Corona Danica", was introduced already in 1618. These coins depict Christian IV in full standing figure on the front and the King's own crown on the reverse. There are several fine examples of this early coin at the auction. Despite a significant output, the currency reform of the Danish kroner in 1618 was not a success. This was due, among other things, to Christian IV's enormous spending on building projects as well as the cost of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48).

The Mining Adventure in Kongsberg

However, Christian IV was a lucky king when it came to finances since large silver deposits were discovered west of Oslo in 1624. This resulted in a mining adventure at the new town of Kongsberg, where the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway established its own supply of silver. From 1624, more and larger coins were produced than ever before, many of which have found their way to our coin auction this spring. Most impressive is a 4 Speciedaler 1624 weighing a total of 116 grams, which is one of the auction's absolute highlights. It is a very rare type in an exceptionally beautiful example with a fine patina and without any of the usual dents and polishing marks.

In one of his diaries, Christian IV writes the following on 31 March 1624: "Given by Nicolas Schwabe, 140 Rigsdaler in Specie, which were made by Norwegian silver". There is, therefore, no doubt that the auction's beautiful 4 Speciedalerfrom 1624 is among the first Danish-Norwegian coins that were minted in silver from Kongsberg shortly after silver was discovered in the Norwegian mountains.

Ducats for the Christian King

Worth noting is also the auction's beautiful gold ducats from 1644-1646, which were made with the text ”Gud er en retfærdig dommer” (God is a fair judge). This text refers to the Swedish attack on Denmark in 1643, where troops invaded Jutland without a declaration of war. The need for money during the wars was great – and Christian IV had to pawn his royal crown and have many of his silver furniture pieces melted down into substandard war coins. Beautiful and rare examples of these silver coins are now up for auction.

Preview and Auction

The coin auction will be held on Tuesday 8 May from 10 am to 5 pm at Bruun Rasmussen on Baltikavej 10 in Copenhagen. The preview will take place at the same address on Thursday 26 April from 10 am to 5 pm, Monday 7 May from 10 am to 5 pm and Tuesday 8 May from 8:30 am until the auction ends.

Prior to the auction, selected highlights will be on display at Hotel Continental, Stortingsgaten 24/26 in Oslo on Tuesday 24 April from 3 to 7 pm.

View all the lots from the coin auction here

Press photos

878/73: 4 Speciedaler 1624, H 58, S 1, Aagaard F2 / Bx, Dav. 3521, 116.38 g. Very rare type in an exceptionally beautiful example. Estimate: DKK 200,000 (€ 27,000).

878/92: 2 kroner 1618, H 105A, S 5, Sieg 87.1 / 87.3, Dav. 3516, 37.41 g. Beautiful example of Nicolaus Schwabe’s wonderful "Corona Danica". Estimate: DKK 7,000 (€ 940).

878/61: Ducat 1646, "Hebrew legend", H 33, Sieg 128.2, S 3, F 39. Well-minted example from this rare year. Estimate: DKK 30,000 (€ 4,050).

878/112: 2 mark 1646, H 148, S 54, Sieg 76.2, 10,72 g. Beautiful example from a rare year. Estimate: DKK 4,000 (€ 335).