(sold for $57.0)

1769, Austria/Slovenia, Pettau/Ptuj, Franz Wasner. Copper "Burgfriedberetungsgroschen" Coin. R!

Mint Date: 1769
Mint Place: Salzburg
Medallist: F. Matzenkopf
Reference: Probszt 203, Unger 1914. R!
Condition: Light corrosion, otherwise VF+
Denomination: Burgfriedbereitungsgroschen ("Castle...Grossus")
Material: Copper
Diameter: 21mm
Weight: 2.4gm

Obverse: St. George on horse killing the dragon. Praying figure in background to right.

Reverse: Initials (F:VV: - for Franz Wasner) above shield of Pettau (Ptuj) within wreathl.
Legend: PURG FRIDTSBEREITUNG ZU PETTAU 1769 / AUGUSTI 28

Ptuj Castle (Slovene: Ptujski grad) is a castle in Ptuj, Slovenia. It is situated on a hill alongside the river Drava overlooking the town, and is a prominent landmark. The castle was built in the mid-12th century, when it was constructed to defend against the Hungarians. When the castle was built, the town of Ptuj was part of the Archdiocese of Salzburg.

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Ptuj (German: Pettau; Latin: Poetovium) is a town in northeastern Slovenia. Traditionally the area was part of the Styria region.

Ptuj is the oldest city in Slovenia. There is evidence that the area was settled in the Stone Age. In the Late Iron Age it was settled by Celts.

In 570 the city was occupied by Eurasian Avars and Slavic tribes. Ptuj became part of the Frankish Empire after the fall of Avar state at the end of 8th century. Between 840 and 874 it belonged to the Slavic Balaton Principality of Pribina and Kocelj. Between 874 and 890 Ptuj gradually came under the influence of the Archbishopric of Salzburg;[2] city rights passed in 1376 began an economic upswing for the settlement. As Pettau, it was incorporated into the Duchy of Styria in 1555.

Pettau was a battleground during the Ottoman wars in Europe and suffered from fires in 1684, 1705, 1710, and 1744. Its population and importance began to decline in the 19th century, however, after the completion of the Vienna-Trieste route of the Austrian Southern Railway, as the line went through Marburg (Maribor) instead.

According to the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, 86% of the population of Pettau's Old Town was German-speaking, while the population of the surrounding villages predominantly spoke Slovene. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I, Pettau was included in the short-lived Republic of German Austria, but after the military intervention of the Slovenian general Rudolf Maister, the entire territory of Lower Styria was included into the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Yugoslavia). During the interwar period, the number and the percentage of those identifying as Germans in the city, which was renamed Ptuj, decreased rapidly, although a relatively strong ethnic German minority remained.

After the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Ptuj was occupied by Nazi Germany. From 1941 to 1944 the town's Slovenian population was dispossessed and deported. Their homes were taken over by German speakers from South Tyrol and the Gottschee County, who had themselves been evicted according to an agreement between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. These German immigrants, along with the native German Pettauer, were expelled to Austria in 1945; many later settled in North America.

Since 1945 Ptuj has been populated almost completely by Slovenians.

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