Thaler

The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar.

Origin

The roots and development of the thaler-sized silver coin dates back to the mid-1400s. As the fifteenth century drew to a close the state of much of Europe's coinage was quite poor because of repeated debasement induced by the costs of continual warfare. This habitual debasement had reached a point that silver content in coins had dropped in some cases to less than five percent, making the coins of much less individual value than they held before.

Related Topics:
1400s - Debasement - Warfare

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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 tron in excess of six grams, a substantial increase over the roughly four gram gros tournois of France. 1474 saw a nine gram lira issued, but it was in 1484 that Archduke Sigismund of Tyrol issued the first truly revolutionary silver coin, the half guldengroschen of roughly 15½ grams. This was a very rare coin, almost a trial piece, but it did circulate so successfully that demand could not be met.

Related Topics:
Italy - 1472 - Lira - Gram - Gros tournois - France - 1474 - Archduke - Tyrol

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Finally, with the silver deposits being mined at Schwaz to work with and his mint at Hall, Sigismund issued in 1486 large numbers of the first true thaler-sized coin, the guldengroschen (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 than other artists, began creating intricate and elaborate designs featuring the heraldric arms and standards of the minting state as well as brutally realistic, sometimes unflattering, depictions of the ruler or monarch.

Related Topics:
1486 - Guldengroschen - Goldgulden - Renaissance - Artist - Monarch

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