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Bretzenheim gold guilder treasure discovered in KENOM

Old gold coin with a lily in the center and writing on the edge.
Florentine florin, 1311, obverse. Depicted is the coat of arms of Florence, the lily, with the inscription "FLORENTIA".
Old gold coin, in the center a person with a robe, on the edge letters
Florentine florin, 1311, reverse. Depicted is John the Baptist ("S[anctus] IOHANNES B[aptista]"). The stag's antlers at the top left are the mint master's insignia from 1311.

Discovered in 1882 in a field near Bretzenheim, this hoard of coins is the second largest medieval gold coin treasure ever found in Germany, containing 1,005 gold guilders. The treasure, which was probably buried around 1390 during the war raging in Rheinhessen between the Rhenish City League and Elector Ruprecht I of the Palatinate, reflects the money circulation in the Rhineland towards the end of the 14th century.

In addition to the bulk of Florentine gold guilders, it contained Venetian ducats as well as Bohemian, Silesian, Hungarian, southern French, Burgundian, Dutch, southern German, and Lübeck guilders, as well as numerous guilders from the electors of Cologne, Trier, the Palatinate, and Mainz. To finance the purchase, most of the treasure was sold to collectors and other coin cabinets in 1883 after it had been scientifically cataloged. Seventy-six specimens remained in the possession of the municipal coin cabinet.

As part of an exercise on late medieval coin history at the History Department of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and a subsequent student project, the part remaining in the coin cabinet of the city archives has now been cataloged by Maya Lerner, a student of philosophy, and can be searched at www.kenom.de.

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