The mayor's treasure? A 17th century coin hoard from Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt
Volunteer work often plays a major role in the preservation of the numerous important architectural monuments in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 2018, the Altstadt Wettin e.V. association has been looking after a property in the center of the city that was threatened with demolition. During construction work in the courtyard of the property last year, an extensive coin find from the 17th century was discovered and professionally recovered by the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt (LDA). The find highlights long-range trade connections of a wealthy merchant; written sources even reveal the name of the possible owner.
The property Wettin Brauhausgasse 4-5
Volunteer work often plays a major role in the preservation of the numerous important architectural monuments in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 2018, the Altstadt Wettin e.V. association (https://www.altstadt-wettin.de/) has been looking after a property in the center of the city that was threatened with demolition. The elongated, two-story building with a representative facade facing the street was built in the second half of the 16th or early 17th century. The owners were well-off members of the Wettin community, which is also evidenced by a small, possibly relocated seating niche portal that dates to around 1550. The history of the house and that of its owners can be traced back through written sources to the time of the end of the Thirty Years' War. From 1681 onwards, the building housed probably the oldest pharmacy in the city. Traces of this use can still be found today. In view of several attested city fires, it is one of the oldest preserved secular buildings in Wettin, and therefore of considerable importance to the city's history.
The coin hoard
In July 2023, a trench for a new sewer line was to be dug in the building's courtyard. A hoard of coins was discovered in the gate area of the house in a depth of about 50 centimeters. The 285 greenish-colored silver coins lay in a heavily compacted accumulation in the ground without a protective container. However, due to the compact aspect of the coins, a former organic container, such as a bag can be assumed. With the support of the association members present, the hoard could be recovered with the surrounding sediments. The on-site documentation was carried out by Dr. Claudia Beuger, association member and archaeologist. The excavation of the coin hoard was completed in the restoration workshop of the LDA Saxony-Anhalt under laboratory conditions. The coins were removed in layers, recorded and treated for restoration.
Large-format silver coins, thalers and equivalent foreign coins make up more than half of the find. The rest of the find consists of thaler subdivisions and groschen. The oldest coin in the find was minted in 1499, the youngest comes from 1652. The time of concealment was probably in the later 1650s. Even if statements about former purchasing power are difficult, the find, consisting of coins with a high silver content, certainly represented considerable value.
Regional Saxon coins make up the majority of the find volume. However, these are not the more valuable thalers, but above all the so-called Schreckenberger groschen coins, which were used less for (long-distance) trade and more on the regional market. On the other hand, the Albertus thalers minted in the Spanish Netherlands, which form the second largest coin group, are considered to be trade coins. There are also coins from the German emperors, the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, the Archduchy of Austria, the Netherlands and the cities of Augsburg, Basel, Schaffhausen, Hamburg, St. Gallen, Nuremberg, Lübeck, Konstanz, Goslar, Frankfurt and Metz.
There are also many coins in the hoard that rarely appear in Saxony-Anhalt finds. Of particular note is an Italian scudo from 1630 by Odoardo Farnese, who ruled the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza from 1622 until his death in 1646. In Tuscany, such large silver coins were called tallero and were used particularly for the Levant trade. Another tallero in the Wettin find, minted in 1620, shows Cosimo II de' Medici (reign 1609 to 1621), also from a very influential family and Grand Duke of Tuscany.
The youngest coin found is a Patagon, the Spanish name for the Albertusthaler. First minted in 1612 by the regent of the Spanish Netherlands, Archduke Albert VII of Austria (1559 to 1621) and his wife Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (1566 to 1633), these coins developed into the main trade coins in the Baltic Sea region in the 17th century. The final coin of the hoard was minted for Spanish King Philip IV (reign 1621 to 1665) in Bruges in 1652.
The mayor's treasure?
The Wettin hoard was hidden shortly after the end of the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648). In particular, the electoral and ducal Saxon coins and those from the counties of Hohnstein and Mansfeld are to be considered regional. The Albertusthaler and the variety of coins that come from further afield, including from Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany, as well as the two coins from Italy, suggest a merchant as former owner or, given the long accumulation phase of 150 years, a merchant family that was also active in long-distance trade.
In fact, at the time the coins were deposited, the house on Brauhausgasse belonged to Johann Dondorf, one of Wettin's richest citizens, who had also been mayor of the city since the late 1660s. He earned his income primarily from agriculture, some winegrowing and brewing rights. Wettin was an extremely wealthy brewing town during and after the Thirty Years' War. Dondorf's wealth became clear after his death in 1675. When his estate was legally recorded, more than 2,500 thalers were found in 13 individual lots in his house, of which "[...] 500 pieces of ducats in a long leather bag." A connection between the treasure find and this important citizen of Wettin would be conceivable.
The work of the Altstadt Wettin e.V. association
Since 2021, the property and building have belongs to the Altstadt Wettin e.V. association. The association, led by Frank Dobberstein and Günter Höfflin, and its 21 members work on a voluntary basis in close coordination with the monument protection authorities to secure and restore the original building structure. Due to the great importance of the building ensemble, funding has already been obtained from the state of Saxony-Anhalt, the Wüstenrotstiftung and the Saalesparkasse to renovate part of the roof; the Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz ("German Foundation for Monument Protection") and the Hermann Reemtsma Foundation also support the association. The state initiative 'REVIERPIONIER - Ideas Competition for the Future, Country and People' and the BEQISA (“Advisory Center for Municipal Neighborhood Development in Saxony-Anhalt”) provided further funds for developing a usage perspective for the building, which should be in the area of a community center.
In addition to its scientific significance, the Wettin coin find is not least an excellent example of the important contributions that voluntary commitment in close cooperation with the responsible authorities in heritage management and archaeology can make to our knowledge of the history of Saxony-Anhalt.
Weitere Informationen:
http://Further information about coin finds in Saxony-Anhalt can be found here: https://www.sesam-projekt.de/. The coins have been digitized and will be available for research in the KENOM database (https://www.kenom.de/index/).
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