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.

The Joachimsthaler

By 1518 guldiners were popping up everywhere in central Europe. In Bohemia, then controlled by the Habsburg monarchs, a guldiner was minted of similar physical size but slightly less fineness that was named the Joachimsthaler, from the silver mined at a rich source near Joachimsthal (St. Joachim's Valley, Czech: Jáchymov) (now in the Czech Republic) where thal means "valley". St. Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary, was portrayed on the coin. This new thaler was finally the coin that Europe was looking for to create a standard for commerce.

Related Topics:
Europe - Bohemia - Habsburg - Minted - Joachimsthal - Czech - Jáchymov - Czech Republic - St. Joachim - Virgin Mary - Commerce

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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, krona, and eventually the peso being issued and in widespread use. Indeed, in England the word dollar was in use for the thaler for 200 years before the issue of the United States dollar, and until the half crown ceased to be used following decimalisation in 1971, the term "half a dollar" could be heard for "half a crown". The zenith of thaler minting occurred in the 17th century with the so-called "multiple thalers". Some of these coins reached colossal size, nearing a full pound (nearly 375 g) of silver and being over 12 cm in diameter. These are very rare, often costing tens of thousands of dollars, and are highly sought after by serious collectors of thalers.

Related Topics:
Economy - Crown - Daalder - English - Dollar - Krona - Peso - England - United States dollar - Decimalisation - 1971 - Pound

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