Thirty Years’ War Coins

I get notifications when “Peace of Westphalia” is mentioned on the internet. The notices are mostly from articles on international relations that throw in a reference to the Peace of Westphalia, usually in reference to sovereignty, so they aren’t very relevant. Some of the notices are articles that are specifically about how the Peace of Westphalia has lessons for some modern problem, and those are usually the most interesting.

And there are notices about things like this, an auction of items related to the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia. The brief article highlights one specific coin, which was minted in honour of Wladislaw IV’s victory over the Russians at Smolensk. I am just fascinated by role of Poland in early modern history, so this is really interesting to me. If I had a spare $25,000, I might consider buying it. My favourite part is that the coin is offered as one of 436 lots, and it is lot 49 — surely a coincidence, but the same as the famous Thomas Pynchon book, “The Crying of Lot 49” (which I read in high school but I’m afraid I can’t recall much of anything from it.

Update: I found a subsequent article that discusses the results of the sale, which exceeded expectations. This article mentions several other coins that sold, including an Erfurt taler from 1632 that celebrated Gustavus Adolphus’s victory at Breitenfeld, comparing to the rescue of the Jews in the book of Esther; a coin issued by an obscure prince of the Empire, Heinrich IV von Schlick of Bassano and Weisskirchen, who became president of the War Council; and the most expensive coin auctioned that day, a silver coin issued by Albert von Wallenstein in 1627.