1 Goldgulden Germany Gold

Mind Year: 1507
Mint Place: Nuremberg
Denomination: Goldgulden (Ducat) 
Reference: Friedberg 1801, MB#7. Rare!
Material: Gold (.986)
Diameter: 20mm
Weight: 3.25gm

Obverse: Nimbate standign and togate figure of Saint Lawrence, holding griddle in right hand and book of gospels in left hand.
Legend: SANCTVS °° LA – VRENTIVS ° 

Reverse: Heraldic eagle with large letter (N for Nurnberg) at chest. All within inner circle. Date (1507) in legend.

Legend + MONETA °° 9VRIS °° D °° NVRMERG °° 1507

Saint Lawrence or Laurence (Latin: Laurentius, lit. “laurelled”; 31 December AD 225  – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome, Italy, under Pope St Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman Emperor Valerian ordered in 258.

St Lawrence is thought to have been born on 31 December AD 225 in Valencia, or less probably, in Huesca, the town from which his parents came in the later region of Aragon that was then part of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis. The martyrs St Orentius (Modern Spanish: San Orencio) and St Patientia (Modern Spanish: Santa Paciencia) are traditionally held to have been his parents.

He encountered the future Pope St Sixtus II, who was of Greek origin and one of the most famous and highly esteemed teachers, in Caesaraugusta (today Zaragoza). Eventually, both left Spain for Rome. When Sixtus became the Pope in 257, he ordained St Lawrence as a deacon, and though Lawrence was still young appointed him first among the seven deacons who served in the patriarchal church. He is therefore called “archdeaconof Rome”, a position of great trust that included the care of the treasury and riches of the Church and the distribution of alms to the indigent.

St Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, notes that Roman authorities had established a norm according to which all Christians who had been denounced must be executed and their goods confiscated by the Imperial treasury. At the beginning of August 258, the Emperor Valerian issued an edict that all bishops, priests, and deacons should immediately be put to death. Pope St Sixtus II was captured on 6 August 258, at the cemetery of St Callixtuswhile celebrating the liturgy and executed forthwith.

After the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that St Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church. St Ambrose is the earliest source for the narrative that St Lawrence asked for three days to gather the wealth.He worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the indigent as possible, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to deliver the treasures of the Church he presented the indigent, the crippled, the blind, and the suffering, and declared that these were the true treasures of the Church. One account records him declaring to the prefect, “The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor.” This act of defiance led directly to his martyrdom and can be compared to the parallel Roman tale of the jewels of Cornelia.

On 10 August, St Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, and therefore, the ranking Church official, suffered a martyr’s death.

By tradition, St Lawrence was sentenced at San Lorenzo in Miranda, imprisoned in and baptized fellow prisoners at San Lorenzo in Fonte, martyred at San Lorenzo in Panisperna, and was buried in San Lorenzo fuori le Mura. The Almanac of Filocalus for AD 354 states that he was buried in the Catacomb of Cyriaca on the Via Tiburtina by Hippolytus and Justin the Confessor, a presbyter. One of the early sources for his martyrdom was the description of Aurelius Prudentius Clemens in his Peristephanon, Hymn 2.

A famous legend has persisted from ancient times. As deacon in Rome, St Lawrence was responsible for the material goods of the Church and the distribution of alms to the poor. St Ambrose of Milan relates that when the treasures of the Church were demanded of St Lawrence by the Prefect of Rome, he brought forward the poor, to whom he had distributed the treasure as alms. “Behold in these poor persons the treasures which I promised to show you; to which I will add pearls and precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the Church's crown.” The Prefect was so angry that he had a great gridiron prepared with hot coals beneath it, and had Lawrence placed on it, hence St Lawrence’s association with the gridiron. After the martyr had suffered pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he cheerfully declared: “I'm well done. Turn me over!” From this derives his patronage of cooks, chefs, and comedians.

Some historians, such as Rev. Patrick J. Healy, opine that the tradition of how St Lawrence was martyred is “not worthy of credence”, as the slow lingering death cannot be reconciled “with the express command contained in the edict regarding bishops, priests, and deacons (animadvertantur) which ordinarily meant decapitation.” A theory of how the tradition arose is proposed by Pio Franchi de' Cavalieri, who postulates that it was the result of a mistaken transcription, the accidental omission of the letter “p” – "by which the customary and solemn formula for announcing the death of a martyr – passus est [“he suffered,” that is, was martyred] – was made to read assus est[he was roasted]." The Liber Pontificalis, which is held to draw from sources independent of the existing traditions and Acta regarding Lawrence, uses passus est concerning him, the same term it uses for Pope Sixtus II, who was martyred by decapitation during the same persecution. However, this modern scholarship is disputed by another scholar, Janice Bennett, whose study of other primary sources indicates that the traditional narratives are substantially correct.

Emperor Constantine I is traditionally held to have erected a small oratory in honour of St Lawrence, which was a station on the itineraries of the graves of the Roman martyrs by the seventh century. Pope Damasus I rebuilt or repaired the church, now the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, while the Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo in Panisperna was erected over the site of his martyrdom. The gridiron of the martyrdom was placed by Pope Paschal IIin the Minor Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina.

Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg; East Franconian: Närrnberch or Nämberch, locally Närmberch) is the second-largest city of the German federal state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 511,628 (2016) inhabitants make it the 14th largest city in Germany. On the Pegnitz River (from its confluence with the Rednitz in Fürth onwards: Regnitz, a tributary of the River Main) and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it lies in the Bavarian administrative region of Middle Franconia, and is the largest city and the unofficial capital of Franconia. Nuremberg forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring cities of Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a total population of 787,976 (2016), while the larger Nuremberg Metropolitan Region has approximately 3.5 million inhabitants. The city lies about 170 kilometres (110 mi) north of Munich. It is the largest city in the East Franconian dialect area (colloquially: “Franconian”; German: Fränkisch).

There are many institutions of higher education in the city, including the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg). With 39,780 students in 2017, it is Bavaria’s third-largest and Germany’s 11th-largest university, with campuses in Erlangen and Nuremberg and a university hospital in Erlangen (Universitätsklinikum Erlangen). Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm and Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg are also located within the city. Nuremberg Airport (Flughafen Nürnberg “Albrecht Dürer“) is the second-busiest airport in Bavaria after Munich Airport, and the tenth-busiest airport in Germany.

Staatstheater Nürnberg is one of the five Bavarian state theatres,[a] showing operas, operettas, musicals, and ballets (main venue: Nuremberg Opera House), plays (main venue: Schauspielhaus Nürnberg), as well as concerts (main venue: Meistersingerhalle). Its orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, is Bavaria’s second-largest opera orchestra after the Bavarian State Opera’s Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich. Nuremberg is the birthplace of Albrecht Dürer and Johann Pachelbel.