Nothing New Under The Sun

“There’s Nothing New Under The Sun”

We have all heard that old expression many times and here is an example to prove it‘s validity. Recently I was in a small town coin shop were the dealer had three Bavarian Madonna Thalers. These are impressive but common coins with the Duke Maximilian Joseph’s portrait on the obverse and the Madonna and Child on the reverse. What looks like scratches are really adjustment marks. When the planchet was made it was weighed and if too heavy a file was used to lower the weight! Then the coin was struck; crude but effective. What makes the coin interesting is the Radiant Madonna is sitting on a throne of clouds with her feet resting on a crescent moon symbolizing the defeat of Islam. The forces of Islam were a major threat to Europe until fifty or so years before when the last Moslem invasion of Europe got as far as Budapest. That would explain why a very similar design is also depicted on many Hungarian coins of that time. Maybe now would be a good time to reactivate the Madonna and Child coin design.