Thaler
Encyclopedia
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar
Dollar
The dollar is the name of the official currency of many countries, including Australia, Belize, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.-Etymology:...
or tolar
Slovenian tolar
The tolar was the currency of Slovenia from 1991 until the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2007. It was subdivided into 100 stotins...
. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal
Jáchymov
For other places called Joachimsthal, see Joachimsthal Jáchymov . compl: "Sant Joachim's Sthal" is a spa town in north-west Bohemia in the Czech Republic belonging to the Karlovy Vary Region. It is situated at an altitude of 733 m above sea level in the eponymous St...
(Jáchymov) in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, where some of the first such coins were minted in 1518. ( is German for "valley". A "thaler" is a person or a thing "from the valley". In 1902, the official spelling was changed from Thal to Tal.)
Origin
The roots and development of the Thaler-sized silver coin date back to the mid-15th century. As the 15th century drew to a close the state of much of Europe's coinage was quite poor because of repeated debasementDebasement
Debasement is the practice of lowering the value of currency. It is particularly used in connection with commodity money such as gold or silver coins...
induced by the costs of continual warfare, and by the incessant centuries-long loss of silver and gold in indirect one-sided trades importing spice
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
s and porcelain
Porcelain
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
and silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
and other fine cloths and exotic goods from India, Indonesia and the Far East. This continual debasement had reached a point that silver content in Groschen
Groschen
Groschen was the name for a coin used in various German-speaking states as well as some non-German-speaking countries of Central Europe , the Danubian principalities...
-type coins had dropped, in some cases, to less than five percent, making the coins of much less individual value than they had in the beginning.
Countering this trend, with the discovery and mining of silver deposits in Europe, Italy began the first tentative steps toward a large silver coinage with the introduction in 1472 of the lira
Lira
Lira is the name of the monetary unit of a number of countries, as well as the former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino and the Vatican City and Israel. The term originates from the value of a Troy pound of high purity silver. The libra was the basis of the monetary system of the Roman Empire...
tron in excess of six grams, a substantial increase over the, roughly, four-gram gros tournois of France.
In 1474 a nine-gram lira was issued but it was in 1484 that Archduke Sigismund of Tirol
German Tyrol
German Tyrol is a historical region in the Alps now divided between Austria and Italy. It includes largely ethnic German areas of historical County of Tyrol: the Austrian state of Tyrol and the province of South Tyrol but not the largely Italian-speaking province of Trentino .-History:German...
issued the first truly revolutionary silver coin, the half Guldengroschen of roughly 15½ (fifteen and a half) grams. This was a very rare coin, almost a trial piece, but it did circulate so successfully that demand could not be met.
Finally, with the silver deposits—being mined at Schwaz
Schwaz
Schwaz is a city in Tyrol, Austria. It is the administrative center of the Schwaz district . Schwaz is located in the lower Inn valley, and has a population of about 13,000....
—to work with and his mint at Hall
Hall in Tirol
Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn valley, it has a population of about 12,700 .-History:...
, Sigismund issued, in 1486, large numbers of the first true Thaler-sized coin, the Guldengroschen
Guldengroschen
The Guldengroschen was a large silver coin originally minted in Tirol in 1486.The Guldengroschen's name comes from the fact that it has an equivalent denomination value in silver relative to that of the goldgulden...
(great gulden, being of silver but equal in value to a Goldgulden).
The Guldengroschen, nicknamed the guldiner, was an instant and unqualified success. Soon it was being copied widely by many states who had the necessary silver. The engravers, no less affected by the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
than were other artists, began creating intricate and elaborate designs featuring the heraldic arms and standards of the minting state as well as brutally realistic, sometimes unflattering, depictions of the ruler (monarch).
The Joachimsthaler
By 1518 guldiners were popping up everywhere in central Europe. In Bohemia, a part of the Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
then controlled by the Jagellonian
Jagiellon dynasty
The Jagiellonian dynasty was a royal dynasty originating from the Lithuanian House of Gediminas dynasty that reigned in Central European countries between the 14th and 16th century...
monarchs, a guldiner was minted
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
—of similar physical size but slightly less fineness—that was named the Joachimsthaler from the silver mined by the Counts of Schlick at a rich source near Joachimsthal (St. Joachim's Valley, Jáchymov) (now in the Czech Republic) where Thal (Tal) means "valley" in German. Joachim
Joachim
Saint Joachim was the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions. The story of Joachim and Anne appears first in the apocryphal Gospel of James...
, the father of the Virgin Mary, was portrayed on the coin along with the lion from the Counts' crest. Similar coins began to be minted in neighbouring valleys rich in silver deposits, each named after the particular 'thal' or valley from which the silver was extracted. There were soon so many of them that these silver coins began to be known more widely as 'thaler'.
From these earliest 'thalaer' developed the new Thaler – the coin that Europe had been looking for to create a standard for commerce. The original Joachimsthaler Guldengroschen was 1 ounce in weight (27.2 g). The Reichstaler (1566 to 1750) was defined to contain 25.984 g of Silver which was set as the coin of account
Coin of account
A coin of account is a unit of money that does not exist as an actual coin but is used in figuring prices or other amounts of money. For example, the mill is a coin of account in the United States...
of the Empire.
In the 17th Century, a certain amount of Joachimsthalers was in circulation in the Tsardom of Russia
Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia was the name of the centralized Russian state from Ivan IV's assumption of the title of Tsar in 1547 till Peter the Great's foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721.From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 a year...
, where it was called Yefimok - a distortion of its name's first half.
Later German Thaler
Loser
Loser may refer to:In music:*Loser , an American rock band* "Loser" , a 1993 song by Beck* "Loser" , a 2000 song by 3 Doors Down* "Loser" , a 2005 song by AyreonIn other media:...
s in Germany. The first were minted in Brunswick, and indeed the majority were struck there. Some of these coins reached colossal size, as much as sixteen normal thalers. The original reason for minting these colossal coins, some of which exceeded a full pound (over 450g) of silver and being over 12 cm in diameter, is uncertain. The name "löser" most likely was derived from a large gold coin minted in Hamburg called the Portugalöser, worth 10 ducats. Some of the silver löser reached this value, but not all. Eventually the term was applied to numerous similar coins worth more than a single Thaler. These coins are very rare, the larger ones often costing tens of thousands of dollars, and are highly sought after by serious collectors of Thalers. Few circulated in any real sense so they often remain in well-preserved condition.
In the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, the Thaler was used as the standard against which the various states' currencies could be valued. One standard introduced by Prussia was the Reichsthaler
Reichsthaler
The Reichsthaler was a standard Thaler of the Holy Roman Empire, established in 1566 by the Leipzig convention. It was also the name of a unit of account in northern Germany and of a silver coin issued by Prussia.-Reichsthaler coin:...
, which contained one fourteenth of a Cologne mark
Cologne mark
The Cologne Mark was a unit of weight equivalent to 233.856 grams. It was introduced by the Danish King Hans in the late 15th century and was used as a standard for weighing metals...
of silver. In 1754, the Conventionsthaler
Conventionsthaler
The Conventionstaler was a standard silver coin of the Holy Roman Empire. It was introduced in 1754 and contained one tenth of a Cologne mark of silver ....
was introduced, containing one tenth of a Cologne mark of silver.
In 1837, the Prussian thaler
Prussian thaler
The Thaler was the currency of Prussia until 1857. From 1750, it was distinct from north German Reichsthaler unit of account in that it contained 1/14 of a Cologne mark of silver, rather than 1/12, and was minted as a coin...
became part of a currency union which set the value of the southern German gulden at 1.75 per thaler. By 1850, nearly all German states used this standard of Thaler, though with differing subdivisions.
In 1857, the Vereinsthaler
Vereinsthaler
The Vereinsthaler was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years prior to German unification.- Introduction :...
was adopted by most German states as well as in the Habsburg Empire. Vereinsthalers were issued until 1871 in Germany and 1867 in Austria. Within the new German Empire, vereinsthaler coins circulated as 3-mark pieces until 1908 when they were withdrawn and demonetized. Some old countermarked thalers circulated as emergency coinage in Germany during the inflationary period following its defeat in World War One.
The Maria Theresa thaler
Maria Theresa thaler
The Maria Theresa thaler is a silver bullion-coin that has been used in world trade continuously. Maria Theresa Thalers were first minted in 1741, using the then Reichsthaler standard of 9 thalers to the Vienna mark. In 1750 the thaler was debased to 10 thalers to the Vienna Mark...
was still used during the 20th century in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
and throughout much of the Arab Peninsula.
Dutch daalder
In the Netherlands, the daalder and rijksdaalderDutch rijksdaalder
The rijksdaalder was a Dutch coin first issued by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands in the late 16th century during the Dutch Revolt. Featuring an armored half bust of the William the Silent, rijksdaalder was minted to the Saxon reichsthaler weight standard - 448 grains of .885 fine...
circulated alongside the gulden at values of 1½ and 2½ gulden. The rijksdaalder depicted a lion; hence its Dutch name was leeuwendaler (German löwenthaler). These coins circulated in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and gave their name to the currencies of both Romania and Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, the leu
Leu
Leu may refer to:* Leu, a commune in Dolj County, Romania* Leucine, amino acid abbreviated Leu* LEU, Low-Enriched Uranium* Moldovan leu, the standard of currency in Moldova* Romanian leu, the standard of currency in Romania...
. In the Netherlands, the name rijksdaalder lived on until the gulden was replaced by the euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
in 2002.
Scandinavian taler
The Thaler was introduced and became the most widespread currency in Scandinavia under the name dalerDaler
-Currency:* Danish rigsdaler* Danish West Indian rigsdaler* Greenlandic rigsdaler* Norwegian rigsdaler* Norwegian speciedaler* Swedish riksdaler-People:* Daler Mehndi, an Indian singer* Daler Nazarov, a Tajik composer...
during the early 17th century. Various daler circulated, including the Danish rigsdaler
Danish rigsdaler
The rigsdaler was the name of several currencies used in Denmark until 1873. The similarly named Reichsthaler, riksdaler and rijksdaalder were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively....
, the Swedish riksdaler
Swedish riksdaler
The riksdaler was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar, was named after the German Thaler. The similarly named Reichsthaler, rijksdaalder, and rigsdaler were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, the...
and the Norwegian speciedaler
Norwegian speciedaler
The speciedaler was the currency of Norway between 1816 and 1875. It replaced the rigsdaler specie at par and was subdivided into 120 skilling . It was replaced by the Norwegian krone when Norway joined the Scandinavian Monetary Union...
. These daler circulated in Denmark and Sweden until 1873 when they were replaced by the Danish krone
Danish krone
The krone is the official currency of the Kingdom of Denmark consisting of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is subdivided into 100 øre...
and Swedish krona
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
, the new currencies introduced by the Scandinavian Monetary Union
Scandinavian Monetary Union
The Scandinavian Monetary Union was a monetary union formed by Sweden and Denmark on May 5, 1873, by fixing their currencies against gold at par to each other...
. Norway joined the Monetary Union and introduced the Norwegian krone
Norwegian krone
The krone is the currency of Norway and its dependent territories. The plural form is kroner . It is subdivided into 100 øre. The ISO 4217 code is NOK, although the common local abbreviation is kr. The name translates into English as "crown"...
in 1876.
Other "Thaler"
As silver flooded into the European economy from domestic and overseas sources, Thalers and Thaler-sized coins were minted all over with equivalent coins such as the crown, daalder from which the English word "dollar" is derived, kronaSwedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
, and from 1497, the Spanish eight real coin was minted—a coin which would later become known in some parts of the world as the peso
Peso
The word peso was the name of a coin that originated in Spain and became of immense importance internationally...
. Indeed, in England the word "dollar" was in use for the Thaler for 200 years before the issue of the United States dollar
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
, and until the half crown ceased to be used following decimalisation
Decimalisation
Decimal currency is the term used to describe any currency that is based on one basic unit of currency and a sub-unit which is a power of 10, most commonly 100....
in 1971, the term "half a dollar" could be heard for "half a crown". In Switzerland and Germany, coins were minted to commemorate the Schützenfest
Schützenfest
A Schützenfest is a traditional festival or fair featuring a target shooting competition in the cultures of both Germany and Switzerland....
{Shooting Festival}. These are commonly known as "Shooting thaler
Shooting Thaler
Shooting thalers are commemorative coins minted to commemorate the shooting festival or free shoots tournaments that were held in various Cantons within the Swiss Confederation...
s".
Legacy
No currency currently in circulation is named thaler. Several, however, are acknowledging its legacy with their names: twenty-three currencies named "dollar", used in countries including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand and United States of America, as well as tolarSlovenian tolar
The tolar was the currency of Slovenia from 1991 until the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2007. It was subdivided into 100 stotins...
(slovene for thaler), used in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
until the end of 2006. Between 1992 and 1995, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
planned to introduce Belarusian taler as a national currency.
The birr
Birr
Birr is a town in County Offaly, Ireland. Once called Parsonstown, after the Parsons family who were local landowners and hereditary Earls of Rosse. It is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe....
, the official currency of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
and Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
, takes its name from the local name for thaler, as well as the riyal
Riyal
A riyal is a unit of currency in some countries, and may refer to:* The Hejaz riyal* The Omani rial* The Qatari riyal* The Saudi riyal...
of many Arabian countries.
In colloquial German, "Thaler" persisted with the meaning of "three Marks" until the 1930s, as when the Mark system was introduced in 1871, 1 Vereinsthaler was revalued at 3 Marks.
Chronology of Thaler development
- 1486: Sigismund of Tirol issues his 31.93g GuldengroschenGuldengroschenThe Guldengroschen was a large silver coin originally minted in Tirol in 1486.The Guldengroschen's name comes from the fact that it has an equivalent denomination value in silver relative to that of the goldgulden...
of 60 KreuzerKreuzerThe Kreuzer, in English usually kreutzer, was a silver coin and unit of currency existing in the southern German states prior to the unification of Germany, and in Austria.-Early history:...
s and 937.5 fineness. - 1493: Switzerland issues its first Guldengroschen at Bern
- 1500: The first German Guldengroschen is issued from SaxonySaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, with a value of 24 GroschenGroschenGroschen was the name for a coin used in various German-speaking states as well as some non-German-speaking countries of Central Europe , the Danubian principalities...
. In Bremen it circulates equivalent to 36 Groten. These Guldengroschen are reduced in weight to 29.2g so as to be minted at eight coins to the Cologne mark. - 1518: The first coin actually called a "Thaler" is minted in JoachimsthalJáchymovFor other places called Joachimsthal, see Joachimsthal Jáchymov . compl: "Sant Joachim's Sthal" is a spa town in north-west Bohemia in the Czech Republic belonging to the Karlovy Vary Region. It is situated at an altitude of 733 m above sea level in the eponymous St...
, Bohemia, H.R.E.. Its weight is as the standard of 1500. - 1524: In an attempt to standardize the guldiner, a money ordinance (Reichsmünzordnung) is issued at Esslingen, Germany reaffirming the fineness of the coin at 937.5, and its weight to 29.2g
- 1534: Saxony and Bohemia alter the fineness of their guldiners down from 937.5 purity to 903.0 while maintaining the same coin weight, thus lowering the actual amount of pure silver in the coin. This begins a separation of the Thaler from its guldiner ancestry.
- 1551: A new money ordinance is decreed in AugsburgAugsburgAugsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
that lowers the guldiner's purity to 882.0, but raises the weight of the coin to 31.18g. This returns the coin to being the equal value of a Goldgulden. The Thaler is now equivalent to 72 Kreuzer. - 1559: After the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VCharles V, Holy Roman EmperorCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, yet another money ordinance is decreed at Augsburg, this time radically altering the coin (now to be called a Reichsguldiner) down to a mass of just 24.62g, but returning the coin to 931.0 fineness. This sets the Guldiner to be equivalent to 60 Kreuzer once again. - 1566: The guldiner as a denomination is more or less eliminated by a Saxon money edict that establishes the Reichsthaler (known later as the Speciesthaler) with a fineness of 889.0 and a weight of 29.2g
- 1667: An agreement made at the Abbey of ZinnaZinna AbbeyZinna Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery, the site of which is now occupied by a village also called Kloster Zinna, today part of Jüterbog in Brandenburg, Germany, about south of Berlin.- Cistercians :...
between Saxony, BrandenburgBrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, and Brunswick-LüneburgBrunswick-LüneburgThe Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , or more properly Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg, was an historical ducal state from the late Middle Ages until the late Early Modern era within the North-Western domains of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, in what is now northern Germany...
to help make the minting of small coins more economical than could be done under the old Augsburg ordinances led to the Thaler being reduced in weight to 28.1g but retaining the same 889.0 fineness. - 1690: The Leipzig Money Convention met to deal with the poor quality of coinage in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Brunswick. The agreement of 1667 had not solved the problem so the Thaler was again reduced in weight down to 25.9g. At this point 12 Thaler are being minted to provide one Cologne Mark of silver, up from nine in 1500.
- 1750: This year saw yet another reduction in weight in the areas controlled by PrussiaPrussiaPrussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, HesseHesseHesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel down to just 22.2g and a fineness of 750.0. 14 Thaler are minted to contain one Cologne Mark of silver. - 1754: The monetary agreement between Austria and Bavaria in 1753 began the period of the ConventionsthalerConventionsthalerThe Conventionstaler was a standard silver coin of the Holy Roman Empire. It was introduced in 1754 and contained one tenth of a Cologne mark of silver ....
, a Thaler set at 10 to equal one Cologne Mark of silver. Its weight was 28.0g with a fineness of 833.0. Over time this coin spread into a large portion of central and southern Germany. - 1755: The Kronenthaler is first issued in areas controlled by the Habsburgs, especially in the Netherlands and southern Germany. It had a weight of 29.44g and a fineness of 873.0.
- 1857: The Vienna monetary contract finally eliminates the Cologne Mark as a standard against which the silver coinage of Austria and Germany are reckoned, replacing it with a simple tariff of 500g. Thirty VereinsthalerVereinsthalerThe Vereinsthaler was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years prior to German unification.- Introduction :...
s are set to be minted from this 500g standard. The coins weighed 18.5g and had a fineness of 900.0. They are set to equal 90 Austrian Kreuzer, 105 Bavarian Kreuzer, 30 Groschen, or 48 Schilling depending on the minting region. - 1872: The last Thaler are minted in a few states, notably Saxony.
- 1908: The last circulating thalers were withdrawn and demonetized in Germany.
- Early years of 20th century: unsuccessful attempt to mint Maria Theresa thalerMaria Theresa thalerThe Maria Theresa thaler is a silver bullion-coin that has been used in world trade continuously. Maria Theresa Thalers were first minted in 1741, using the then Reichsthaler standard of 9 thalers to the Vienna mark. In 1750 the thaler was debased to 10 thalers to the Vienna Mark...
in AbyssiniaEthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. Starting in 1935 Italians mint the coin still popular in the area.
See also
- Core BankingCore bankingCore banking is a general term used to describe the services provided by a group of networked bank branches. Bank customers may access their funds and other simple transactions from any of the member branch offices.- Core banking :...
- Maria Theresa ThalerMaria Theresa thalerThe Maria Theresa thaler is a silver bullion-coin that has been used in world trade continuously. Maria Theresa Thalers were first minted in 1741, using the then Reichsthaler standard of 9 thalers to the Vienna mark. In 1750 the thaler was debased to 10 thalers to the Vienna Mark...
- ReichsthalerReichsthalerThe Reichsthaler was a standard Thaler of the Holy Roman Empire, established in 1566 by the Leipzig convention. It was also the name of a unit of account in northern Germany and of a silver coin issued by Prussia.-Reichsthaler coin:...
- KronenthalerKronenthalerThe Kronenthaler was a silver coin first issued in the Austrian Netherlands . It contained one ninth of a Cologne mark of silver and was thus equal to the Reichsthaler of the Leipzig convention. Most examples show the bust of the Austrian ruler on the obverse and four crowns on the reverse, hence...
- VereinsthalerVereinsthalerThe Vereinsthaler was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years prior to German unification.- Introduction :...
- GroschenGroschenGroschen was the name for a coin used in various German-speaking states as well as some non-German-speaking countries of Central Europe , the Danubian principalities...