The New York Sale 2026 Ancient & World

1604 Siege of Aire-sur-la-Lys, 1710. War of the Spanish Succession. Silver 50 Sols (15.24 g), 1710. Octagonal Klippe. Uniface. Crowned oval Arms, 17-10; 50. OBS PRO. REGE. ET. PATRIA. ARI.. Korchnak 9; Mailliet pl I, 5; KM 16.1. Near Extremely Fine.

$750

An Allied army under John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough began their siege of the French fortress of Aire-sur-la Lys on September 6, 1710. The garrison surrendered and the fortress was captured on November 9.

German States

2x

2x

1605 Saxe-Coburg-Eisenach. Johann Friedrich II (1554-1566). Siege of Grimmenstein Castle, Gotha, 1567. Grumbach Feud. Silver 3 Groschen Klippe (19 x 21mm; 3.30 g). Arms of the Elector of Saxony, date 1-5-6-7 around, H HFGK above. Reverse: ‘III Gr’ (Korchnak 232a; Mailliet pl. XLII.3-4; BM Tf. 11.2 and 9; Duby pl. 2.3; Koppe 334b; Slg. Merse 2934; MB 18). Old cabinet tone. Very Fine and rare . As a result of Saxon Elector Johann Friedrich I, ‘the Magnanimous’ losing the Schmalkaldic War against HRE Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547, his rank was erased and the Electorate was transferred from the Ernestine to the Albertine Line. When he died in 1554, he was succeeded by his three sons, Johann Friedrich II, Johann Wilhelm and Johann Friedrich III. After the death of the latter, the surviving elder brothers agreed to divide the land with Johann Friedrich II getting Coburg and Eisenach and Johann Wilhelm, Weimar. Johann Friedrich took up residence in Gotha where he nursed fanciful ideas of restoring his father’s claim to the Electorate. His friend, the Franconian knight Wilhelm von Grumbach encouraged the Duke in this, while the seer, Hans Tausendschön claimed that an angel appeared to him and predicted the resurrection and ascendancy of the Ernestine line. In 1563, Grumbach raised an army and attacked Würzburg; and for his actions was placed under Imperial ban. The Duke refused to turn Grumbach over to Imperial authorities. By this point even Johann Friedrich’s brother sided with the emperor Maximilian. The emperor imposed a Reichsexekution – imperial intervention against a member state – on Johann Friedrich. In late 1566, Imperial troops led by the Saxon Elector Augustus led siege to the city of Gotha and Grimmenstein Castle. Augustus was able to incite a mutiny among the defenders and the city and castle fell in April 1567. Johann Friedrich surrendered and entered Imperial captivity in Austria where he died 29 years later. Von Grumbach was quartered alive in the public square of Gotha, his heart torn out by the executioner who threw it in his face saying ‘Behold thy false heart Grumbach’. The Duke’s chancellor suffered a similar barbaric fate, while the seer and other notable prisoners were hanged or beheaded.

$1,000