Lot 4088

½ Liontaler 16(5)9 (Mezzo Löwentaler) (cf. Gamb. 52/55 RRRR) , copying an example of a Dutch Half Liontaler of the province of Holland, originally attributed to Rietberg, but presumably struck in a city in Northern Italy - Obv: Knight in full armour looking right, coat-of-arms of Holland in front; legend MO ARG IRO GN FOE BELHL rosette / Rev: Climbing lion; legend GONFIDENS DNO NO MOVETVR 16rosette9 - of the highest rarity, unpublished for this date and the only known specimen to us Liontalers were more popular in the Levant than other circulating Talers because of their relatively low silver content (0,750). The higher costs entailed from the remelting of Liontalers discouraged a rapid flow to other parts of Asia (China, India), so these low silver content Liontalers remained for domestic circulation due to an ongoing shortage of large silver coins. The trade fleets of the Dutch Republic, which annually visited the Mediterranean, usually first visited the Northern Italian port cities before sailing to the Eastern Mediterranean (the Levant). This created demand in Northern Italy for cheap(er) Liontalers of low silver content (sometimes even silver-plated copies). Various Italian cities therefore imitated Dutch Liontalers for the purpose of export to the Levant. Cesare Gamberini di Scarfèa published a study in 1977 where 79 reproductions of whole and half Liontalers were described, mostly originating from Northern Italy. This booklet is still commonly used as reference for the description of contemporary imitations of the Dutch Liontalers. Under numbers 52-55 he describes an imitation which, at the time, was still based on the same inscriptions attributed to the German Rietberg copies. While it is currently the theory that this imitation is from Northern Italian origin, the world catalogue of Krause still incorrectly lists these imitations under Rietberg. The example in hand is to date UNPUBLISHED - it is a Half Liontaler that shows great similarities to the full Liontalers of ‘Rietberg’. Both in terms of style ('Italian lion') and in terms of text, this Half Liontaler fits the aforementioned 'Rietberg' specimens. Also the rosette in the date (16-rose-9) strengthens this conclusion.