Obverse: Stallion jumping leftwithin wreath. Cross topped orb above.
Legend: SINCERE ET CONSTANTER ANNO 1650
Reverse: Shield with arms of Brunswick-Luneburg ornated with five family helmets, the middle topped by horse within frame.
Comments: Mint master´s initals (LW) in left field, crossed axes (privy mark of Clausthal) in right field.
Legend: CHRISTIAN : LUDOVICUS D. G. DUX BR : ET LUNEBURG :
Mint Place: Clausthal
Mint Master: Lippold Weber (LW)
Reference: Davenport 6521, Welter 1511, KM-210
Weight: 28.84 gm
Diameter: 45 mm
The title "Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg" (German: Herzog zu Braunschweig und Lüneburg) was held, from 1235, by various members of the Welf family who ruled several small territories in northwest Germany. These holdings did not have all of the formal characteristics of a state, being neither compact nor indivisible. When several sons of a Duke competed for power, the lands were often divided between them; when a branch of the family lost power or became extinct, the lands were reallocated among surviving members of the family; different dukes might also exchange territories. The territories were named after notable towns where the dukes had (or had had at one time) their residences, e.g. Calenberg, Celle, Göttingen, Grubenhagen, Lüneburg, Wolfenbüttel. The unifying element of all these territories was that they were ruled by male-line descendants of Duke Otto I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, nephew of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV.