Thalers of the Pre Empire German States... When the German Empire came into being in 1871, 38 German States (of about 1800) still existed. When the German Empire was formed a new major currency emerged along with the new nation; the Mark. All minor coins and the silver 1 Mark were struck at government owned mints, but the 38 German States were given the right to authorize the issuing of silver coins in denominations of 2, 3, and 5 Mark plus gold coins of 10 and 20 Mark. These, too, had to be struck by a nearby government mint. The previous major currency was the Thaler, which was minted by the individual States' own mints or at neighboring German States' mints. The minor coinage of both major denominations consisted of Pfennig and multiples of Pfennigs. A few of the German States issued coins bearing the denomination Dreiling which translates to 3 Pfennigs. Many German States produced variable fractional Thalers of which a few German States (i.e. Prussia) referred to as Groshen and Silbergroshen. As we look at the Thaler Currencies of the German States we will visit each entity in alphabetical Order. We started with A for Anhalt-Bernberg. then went on to Anhalt-Kothen and progressed to Anhalt-Dessau This posting stays with the letter A, but to set things right in our quest of seeking out the Thaler Coinage issued by Pre German Empire German States, we need to backtrack in the A letter of the alphabet to Aachen whose territories are depicted on this map by the color light or pastel blue: MAP OF AACHEN TERRITORY The following links to photos of the Thaler coinage of Aachen are courtesy of Coin Archives. Coinage will be presented in chronological order (early to later): This example of Aachen's Thaler coinage dates all the way back to 1491 (One year before Columbus discovered the American Continent) and is one of those Thaler fractionals denominated in Groshen. This one being Mariengroshen: AACHEN 1491 MARIENGROSHEN - MAXIMILIANS II This Thaler Coin was issued in Aachen during 1568 under the leadership of Maximilians II: AACHEN 1568 REICHSTALER - MAXIMILIANS II A nice example of Aachen's Thaler coinage is this 1570 Reichstaler minted under Maximilians II leadership: AACHEN 1570 REICHSTALER - MAXIMILIANS II No prefixes on this Taler from Aachen: AACHEN 1570 TALER - MAXIMILIANS II Our next example of Aachen's Thaler production is this Guldentaler minted in 1571. It bears a denomination of 30 Kreuzer or 30 Mark and seems to have been an accepted Legal Tender coin throughout the bounderies of the Hanseatic League member states and the two German alliances as well as neighboring countries: AACHEN 1571 GULDENTALER - MAXIMILIAN II This example of Aachen's Thaler coinage is a Reichstaler struck in 1571 under Maximilians II: AACHEN 1571 REICHSTALER - MAXIMILIANS II This example of Aachen's Thaler mintages stays in the year of 1571, but isn't a Thaler multiple, a Thaler fractional, nor any other derivitive. It is an actual Thaler: AACHEN 1571 TALER - MAXIMILIANS II Hope you enjoyed this post To be continued.. Clinker
Aachen is not only in the same state (and fairly close to) where I live but the city also had a very important position and "rank" for centuries: It was the main residence of Charlemagne in the 8th/9th century, and until the 16th century Aachen was also the place where most kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were crowned. Charlemagne considered his empire to be the successor to the ancient Roman Empire, and many later kings/emperors emphasized this continuity by referring to Charlemagne and Aachen. That is also why you would find Charlemagne depicted on a coin from the 16th century. The name of that 16c emperor is Maximilian, by the way - the "s" at the end is the genitive case (as in "Maximilian's"). One side note regarding the "AACHEN 1571 GULDENTALER" you show us: According to the description (German is easy to read for me, hehe) this is a 19c fantasy piece. The others are apparently authentic. Where on the coins is the city's name? Well, Aachen had and has different names in different languages. In German (and in English) it is Aachen, in French is is Aix-la-Chapelle, in Dutch it's Aken, in Spanish Aquisgrán, Italian Aquisgrana ... and the latter two are basically the same as the Latin word that can be found on the pieces. Both the Celtic "ahha" and the Roman "aquae/aquis" refer to the hot springs there. You may have noticed that Aachen is "on the edge" of Germany. In fact, the nearest cities in the west are Dutch and Belgian. But today the borders are rather state lines, and Aachen is one of the major cities in the (Aachen-Liège-Maastricht) "Euregio". Here is another map that shows where the city is; the insert shows the state of North Rhine Westphalia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._(2009).svg/275px-Aachen_in_AC_(2009).svg.png "PS" - In case anybody wonders why Aachen was a state or country of its own - Aachen was a Free City between the 12th and the late 18th century. (Then, in 1793 and formally in 1797, the city became part of France. After that, between 1815 and 1946, it was part of Prussia. Since 1946 it has been part of North Rhine Westphalia.) Being a Free City meant that it was not part of any kingdom, duchy etc. but had only the king/emperor of the Holy Roman Empire above it. Quite a few cities which had that status expressed that by using the imperial eagle in the CoA, and so did Aachen. Christian
i have cut and pasted all clinkers threads so far into one file for my own perusal, as usual this one is brilliant, and is as good as any reference book.
