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Duchy of Carinthia
In 1515, emperor Maximilian instituted Pankraz Hamel and Hieronymus Kirchpucher from Villach with the right to mint in St. Veit on the Glan. This mint was privately operated for profit. Greed, not a lack of silver, led to the production of coins below the standard specified in the coinage act. In 1516, the Tyrol diet complained about these Carinthian coins. The emperor, however, did not only tolerate the Carinthian practice, he even intended to allow the Vienna mint a similar practice in 1517. Mintage in St. Veit was eventually stopped at the diet of 1518 on the initiative of the representatives of all hereditary lands. When Ferdinand I closed the private mint in St Veit in 1524, Hieronymus Kirchpucher carried the minting utensils off to Croatia. Yet in 1526, when the mint in St. Veit was re-instituted as the sovereign's mint, Kirchpucher again became its mint master.   [see Egg]
Charles V inherited Austria from emperor Maximilian in 1519. However, he never ruled the country. Instead, his brother Archduke Ferdinand became governor in 1521/2. Therefore, only three types of coins were minted in Austria with the title of Charles V, among them the following two pieces.


Ducat, 1521, St. Veit.   Ø 21 mm, 3,53 g.   Schulten 4002; Friedb.-.
Specimen in the Coin Cabinet, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Obv.:   CAROLVS·R - OMANOrum REX (flower)
"Charles, Roman King", actually Roman Emperor since 1519.   Bust with archducal hat to the left.
Rev.:   DVCATVS·CARINTANVS·ANO·1521 (mm.)
quartered shield: Austria [fess], Carinthia [three lions | fess], Styria [panther], Carniola [eagle]
charged with quartered arms ( Castile, Naples/Sicily, Burgundy, Aragon ).


Gulden, n. d., Hall or St. Veit ?   Ø 22 mm, 3,27 g.   M.T.88; Schulten 4494; Friedb.17.
Obv.:   KAROL'us·ARchi - DVX·AVSTRIae   "Charles, Archduke"
Archduke in frontal view standing in armor with coat, archducal hat, sceptre and sword.

Rev.:   +MONETa·NOVA·AVREA·COMITI's·TIROL'is
cross fleuretty and arms ( Austria, Carinthia, Styria, Burgundy [bendy]).
This coin is modeled on the gulden minted in Hall by Archduke Sigismund and emperor Maximilian although it does not show the coat of arms of Tyrol on the reverse as the model always does. Oddly enough, the coin shows the arms of Burgundy instead. As the mint in Hall does not record such a mintage, St. Veit is suspected to be the origin of this strange coin.
The two gold coins are almost equal in diameter and weight. Their differing names refer to their differing gold content. While the ducat consists of almost pure gold, the gold content of the gulden continuously decreased in the course of time. Since 1500 the gulden contains less than 80% gold.

Another fanciful product of the mint in St. Veit is the "grandson-thaler" from 1518.

Ref.:
• Erich Egg :  Die Münzen Kaiser Maximilians I., S.91ff. Innsbruck o.J.(1969)
• H. Moser - H. Tursky :  Die Münzstätte Hall in Tirol 1477-1665, S.49. Innsbruck 1977

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