A Polite Purchase

A Regiments Thaler is not a military item. The word “Regiments” as used here is a German term referring to government. Regiments Thalers usually have one side devoted to the coats of arms of city government officials. In this case a Ravensburg Regiments Thaler was sent to me as a what-is-it back in the mid 1970’s. It was worn, looped and valued at 10,000 by an owner who didn’t know what it was. I wrote it up for him right down to the names of the officials which is not hard to do if you have the right books, and sent it back insured as instructed. My estimate of it’s value was $1,500 max. The coin was reported stolen in a coin shop burglary shortly there after. About a year later the coin showed up illustrated in an auction catalog of my former employer and friend who has long since retired. A quick phone call got the coin yanked and returned to it’s rightful owner who didn’t seem too thrilled and never even said thank you. My guess is that he was very happy with his $10,000 insurance claim and really didn’t want the coin back. Unfortunately the FBI could not trace the coin back to the original burglars. What brings this memory back to me is a polite purchase that I made in Giessen Germany about five years ago. We visited a friend of a friend who was a vest pocket coin dealer and one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. He brought out tray after tray of old European and German coins and I was starting to feel really guilty because I couldn’t find any that I needed or wanted. He didn’t have much in medals or tokens but when he brought out this spectacular nonmilitary medal I couldn’t say yes fast enough. It is not military or even German but it was love at first sight. Seventeen coats of arms on one medal issued by the City and Guilds of London Institute Department of Technology. Enjoy the eye candy below because next week will be much more military in nature