★ A very rare Doppeltaler 1624 from Zürich ★

SWITZERLAND. Zürich. Stadt. Doppeltaler 1624 (Silver, 40 mm, 55.22 g, 12 h), moneyer Hans Jakob (I.) Bodmer, 1623-1629. MO:NO:THVRIC:CIVITA:IMPERIALIS 1624 Lion rampant to left, holding imperial orb in his right hand and sword in his left and placing his left on coat of arms of Zürich. Rev. ✱DOMINE✱CONSERVA✱NOS✱IN✱PACE Crowned double eagle. Davenport 4637. Divo 11A. HMZ 2-1145b. Hürlimann 408. Very rare and beautifully toned. Some die faults on the obverse, otherwise, nearly extremely fine.

Ex Hess-Divo 321, 25 October 2012, 573, and previously from the estate of Jakob Schellenberger.

The highly sought after Doppeltaler of Zurich were minted between 1556 and 1695 and are consistently rare. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), these coins became a prized ‘safe-haven currency,’ especially in German-speaking regions, which were heavily affected by severe inflation at the start of the war. Zurich, however, largely escaped the chaos of the conflict, although it eventually succumbed to inflation as well. But large silver coins like our piece remained unaffected by the devaluation. The devaluation of currency primarily impacted the smaller denominations (cf. Hürlimann, p. 98 ff.).