1664 Brandenburg Bayreuth thaler (KM 78, Dav 6272), struck to commemorate the election of Christian Ernst to the Captainship of the Franconian Circle. A decent VF, with a small mount mark , worn details , especially in the center of the rev, nevertheless i always wanted this coin, so i'm more than happy to have it now. In my opinion , there were some amazing commemorative thalers struck during his reign. Christian Ernst von Brandenburg-Bayreuth (6 August 1644 in Bayreuth – 20 May 1712 in Erlangen) was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. On 12 February 1664, at the age of 19, he was designated a colonel of the Franconian Circle. From 1668 the arming of his own dominion (which was intended originally to aid the emperor) strained state finances and exposed Bayreuth to military dangers. The principality suffered the first of several financial crises in 1672. The military ambitions of Christian Ernst made him an important political ally in spite of the small territories that he ruled. After supporting the Emperor in the Franco-Dutch War , he was appointed a Lieutenant Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschallleutnant) on 27 March 1676. In the libertaion of Vienna from the Turks in 1683, Christian Ernst was a participant in the relief army. In 1691 he was appointed Imperial Field Marshal (Kaiserlicher Generalfeldmarschall) and took command of the imperial army stationed on the Rhine in 1692. He realized that he was not up to the task, and so he resigned the command to Louis William ,Margrave of Baden-Baden . During the War of the Spanish Succession he obtained some victories, but made a fatal mistake on 22 May 1707 that made it possible for French troops to enter Swabia and Bavaria . Thereafter his military career was destroyed. The Franconian Circle ( Fränkischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle established in 1500 in the centre of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the eastern part of the former Franconian stem duchy — roughly corresponding with the present-day Bavaria Regierungsbezirke of Upper , Middle and Lower Franconia — while western Rhenish Franconia belonged to the Upper Rhenish Circle. The title of a "Duke of Franconia" was claimed by the Wurzburg Rhenish Circle. (wikipedia)
