Medieval Austria Sigismund of Tyrol Guldiner 1486

Now here is a neat coin. It is an Austrian guldiner of Archduke Sigismund of Tyrol dated 1486. It is not something you see every day! Sigismund was archduke of Austria and ruler of Tyrol from 1446 to 1490.

The coin in our picture comes from Heritage Auctions, a world renowned auction house for rare and valuable coins. The HA piece is a genuine coin minted in 1486. It sold at auction around the $3200 US dollar mark. Very nice!

CoinQuest thanks Heritage Auctions for use of their coin image.

But that is not the complete story. If you go to eBay and search for sigismund coins, you may find one just like the Heritage coin, but in much better condition and selling for about $100. What gives?

The problem is that Austria often issues restrikes of its classic old coins, and keeps the original date on the coin. So this coin dated 1486 may have been minted in 1953. Get the picture?

Our summary of value is, then:

GENUINE COINS STRUCK IN 1486
worn: $1400 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $3200
well preserved: $10,000+

OFFICIAL RESTRIKES
worn: $5
average circulated: $10
well preserved: $60
fully uncirculated: $120

UNOFFICIAL REPRODUCTIONS
unappealing: zero
appealing: $3

There are also some genuine old coins struck in gold. They are known as 7 ducats, and are extremely valuable. One sold at auction in October of 2012 for 140,000 euros, or about $175,000. Yikes!

If you enjoy squinting at coin pictures, check our image below which does a side-by-side comparison of original and restrike coins. See if you can figure out the one you have, and evaluate accordingly. Genuine coins weigh between 31.2 and 31.7 grams. On 1953 re-strikes, a tiny '1953' appears below the king's feet.

cqLastNotify