The grandmother of Europe, Maria Theresa from the House of Habsburg was one of Europe's most iconic rulers. As empress of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, she was the ancestor to many of Europe's early modern members of royalty including the tragic Marie Antoinette of France. Maria Theresa Thalers (MTT) were one of history's most important and iconic coins. Not was the design alone striking, but the quality and high silver purity of these Thalers meant that they were the preferred currency of exchange outside of Europe especially the Levant countries as well as much of Africa. Such was their popularity that many Arab and African merchants choose to accept only MTT as the currency of choice despite the abundance of other competing coinage such as the Spanish Reales. Even today, MTT continues to be minted by licensed mints across the world (particularly Vienna) and proves to be one of the world's most enduring bullion silvers. The overwhelming majority and most common MTT are those minted in 1780 which was her year of death. The design and year remained fixed for all MTT issued up to the present with many variants that subtly allows one to identify their issue date and origin. Needless to say, lifetime variants of MTT are significantly scarcer if not rare. This variant issued in 1767 features Maria Theresa in her later years wearing a widow's veil with no jewelry or adornments except for a small crown/tiara over her veil unlike her other issues.
Neat coin and a nice refresher write-up for me. I've not yet delved into how to ID date and origin but I like to pick these up if they look to have some age to them. Would anyone recommend a good book or other resource on these ?
You can try this site for a good write up on these and variants. http://www.theresia.name/en/ http://www.1messydesk.com/MTTs/m_theresia_talers.html
I've had a hard time trying to get myself to purchase one of the restrikes since there are so many. The variants look interesting however. I do enjoy the history of Maria Theresa, and i would rather collect coins from that time period that depict her and maybe the variant would be better than a more modern restrike. Its not a Thaler, but here is my Maria Theresa 20 Krajczar from Hungary: 1763 KB 20 KR PCGS Secure VF-30, Pop 1
Very nice piece. A variant when she was much younger. The design at the reverse does bear semblance to also another popular thaler Which was the Madonnathaler also from Hungary
Here are some of mine - http://www.taleruniverse.com/the-ta...s-by-habsburg-ruler/maria-theresia-1740-1780/ http://www.taleruniverse.com/the-taler-universe-collection/italy-related/habsburg/
I believe you mean after 1780, the ones struck in and around 1780 are still rather scarce Here is the one MTT I have, unfortunately has some gunk on one side.
I also have a few of the 1780 restrikes with counterstamps. Virtually all the types of counterstamps seen on these coins are widely believed to be collector pieces and first appeared on the market in the 1950's.
Yes.. I should have been clearer about the post 1780 Re-strikes . Excellent examples!!! Thanks all for sharing your examples....
My favourite non- British coin. I only have one because it's pretty much all that circulated in Aden. I can't remember which mint mine is but I really need to swap it for one minted by ourselves.
