Athaler ortaler (/ˈtɑːlər/TAH-lər;German:Taler[ˈtaːlɐ], previously spelledThaler) is one of the largesilver coins minted in the states and territories of theHoly Roman Empire and theHabsburg monarchy during theEarly Modern period. Athaler size silver coin has a diameter of about 40 mm (1+1⁄2 in) and a weight of about 25 to 30 grams (roughly1 ounce). The word is shortened fromJoachimsthaler, the originalthaler coin minted inJoachimsthal,Bohemia, from 1520.
While the first standard coin of theHoly Roman Empire was theGuldengroschen of 1524, its longest-lived coin was theReichsthaler, which contained1⁄9Cologne Mark of fine silver (or 25.984 g), and which was issued in various versions from 1566 to 1875. From the 17th century a lesser-valuedNorth German thaler currency unit emerged, which by the 19th century became par with theVereinsthaler.
Thethaler silver coin type continued to be minted until the 20th century in the form of theMexican peso until 1914, the fiveSwiss franc coin until 1928, the USsilver dollar until 1935, and the AustrianMaria Theresa thaler. These days thaler-sized silver coins are not in active circulation anymore, but are minted by various government mints as bullion ornumismatic items for collectors. The current derivative of the name,dollar (first Spanish and now mostly English), also survives as the name of several modern currencies.
Germantaler is recorded from the 1530s, as an abbreviation ofJoachimstaler. The silver mines atJoachimstal had opened in 1516, and the first such coins were minted there in 1518.The original spelling wastaler (soAlberus 1540).German-taler means "of the valley" (cf.Neanderthaler).By the late 16th century, the word was variously spelled as Germantaler,toler,thaler,thaller; Low Germandaler,dahler.In 18th to 19th-century German orthography,Thaler became standard, changed toTaler in the1902 spelling reform.
The nametaler,thaler was soon used in compounds denoting various types of silver coins of thaler size, thusReichstaler (1566),Silbertaler,Albertustaler (1612),Laubthaler (1726),Kronenthaler (1755),Ortsthaler,Schützentaler,Bankthaler,Speciethaler, etc.
Units used in theNetherlands include thedaalder, therijksdaalder and theleeuwendaalder. From 1754, many German states used theConventionsthaler as well as a lower-valuedNorth German thaler orReichsthaler worth3⁄4 the Conventionsthaler. From 1840 the various North German thalers converged to the value of thePrussian thaler and afterwards theVereinsthaler.
The corresponding English silver coin of the period was thecrown. The Low German word was adopted in English asdaler by 1550, modified todollar by about 1600.[1]Englishthaler was introduced in the first half of the 19th century to refer to the coins of the German states, as the worddollar was increasingly understood to refer to theUnited States dollar.
The development of large silver coins is an innovation of the beginningEarly Modern period.The largest medieval silver coins were known asgroat (GermanGroschen), fromdenarius grossus or "thick penny". These rarely exceeded a weight of 6 grams.
Even these coins were increasingly debased due to theGreat Bullion Famine of the 15th century which occurred for several reasons including continued warfare and the centuries-long loss of silver and gold in indirect one-sided trades importingspices,porcelain,silk and other fine cloths and exotic goods from India, Indonesia and the Far East. This continual debasement had reached a point that silver content inGroschen-type coins had dropped, in some cases, to less than five percent, making the coins of much less individual value than they had in the beginning.
This trend was inverted with the discovery of new and substantial silver deposits in Europe beginning in about the 1470s. Italy began the first tentative steps toward a large silver coinage with the introduction in 1472 of theVenetian liratron in excess of 6 grams, a substantial increase over the 4-gramgros tournois of France. However, it was only in 1484 thatArchduke Sigismund ofTirol issued the first truly revolutionary silver coin, thehalf Guldengroschen of roughly 15 g. This was a very rare coin, almost a trial piece, but it did circulate so successfully that demand could not be met.
Finally, with the silver deposits—being mined atSchwaz—to work with and his mint atHall, Sigismund issued, in 1486, large numbers of the first true thaler-sized coin, theGuldengroschen ("gold-groat", being of silver but equal in value to a Goldgulden). It 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 theRenaissance than were other artists, began creating intricate and elaborate designs featuring the heraldic arms and standards of the minting state as well as brutally realistic, sometimes unflattering, depictions of the ruler (monarch).
By 1518,guldiners of similar weight toguldengroschen were popping up everywhere in central Europe. In theKingdom of Bohemia, then ruled together with Hungary byLouis II of theJagiellonian dynasty, a guldiner wasminted— of similar physical size but slightly lessfineness—that was named in German theJoachimsthaler, from the silver mined by theCounts of Schlick at a rich source near Joachimsthal (todayJáchymov in theCzech Republic) whereThal (Tal) means "valley" in German. SaintJoachim, the father of theVirgin Mary, was portrayed on the coin along with theBohemian lion.
Similar coins began to be minted in neighbouring valleys rich in silver deposits, each named after the particular 'thal' or valley from which the silver was extracted. There were soon so many of them that these silver coins began to be known more widely as 'thaler' in German and 'tolar' in Czech.
In the 17th century, some Joachimsthalers were in circulation in theTsardom of Russia, where they were calledyefimok (ефимок) – a distortion of the name Joachim.
The new large silver coins that became ubiquitous as the 16th century went on were namedThaler in German, while in England and France, they were namedcrown andécu, respectively, both names taken from what had originally beengold coins. The thaler size silver coins minted inHabsburg Spain was theeight real coin, later also known aspeso and in English as the "Spanish dollar".
The first large silver coin standardized by theHoly Roman Empire was theGuldengroschen in 1524. Under the newImperial Minting Standard (Reichsmünzfuß) it weighed1⁄8th aCologne Mark of silver or 29.232 g, and had a fineness 0.9375. However, its longest-lasting standard coin was theReichsthaler ("imperial thaler") defined in 1566 as containing1⁄9th a CologneMark of fine silver, or 25.984 g. It was widely adopted and produced for the next 300 years at rates varying from 9 to 91⁄4Reichsthalers to theMark.
See thechronology of thaler development for the development of the Reichsthaler and related currency units from 1566 to 1875. Confusingly, there also was defined aNorth Germanthaler currency (also calledReichsthalers) of less value to the standardReichsthaler specie coin; this thaler was worth 12 to aMark after 1690, 131⁄3 to aMark after 1754, and 14 to aMark (thePrussian thaler) by the 1840s. Furthermore, in 1754 aConventionsthaler was developed by theAustrian Empire minted at 10 to aMark of fine silver. While it was adopted by most German states, Scandinavia and a few North German states retained the originalReichsthaler specie of 91⁄4 to aMark as their standard coin until 1875.
![thaler of the County of Tyrol, Leopold V - 1621.[2]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a1_thaler_Leopold_V_of_Austria_-_1621.png)
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The "city view" thalers of the 17th and 18th century have predecessors in stylised representations of cities (as three towers, or a city gate) on the obverse of thaler coins in the late 16th century, such as theLüneburg thaler ofRudolf II made in 1584. More elaborate city views become current in the first half of the 17th century (e.g.Augsburg 1627,Nürnberg 1631).The type continues to be popular throughout the 18th century, culminating in detailed city panoramas rendered inone-point perspective.
In the late 16th and 17th centuries, there was a fashion of oversized thaler coins, the so-called "multiple thalers", often calledLöser in Germany. The first were minted in theDuchy of Brunswick-Luneburg, and indeed the majority were struck there. Some of these coins reached colossal size, as much as sixteen normal thalers, exceeding a full pound (over 450 g) of silver and being over 12 cm (5 in) in diameter. The nameLöser most likely was derived from a large gold coin minted in Hamburg called theportugalöser, worth 10 ducats, which were based on Portuguese 10-ducat coins.[3] Eventually the term was applied to numerous similar coins worth more than a single thaler. These coins are very rare and highly sought after by collectors. As few of them were circulated in any real sense, they are often well-preserved.
TheSpanish Netherlands and the independentDutch Republic has had a history of minting large silver coins separately from the rest of theHoly Roman Empire. It issued thekruisdaalder (depicting the Cross of Burgundy) in 1567, and then theleeuwendaalder (the "lion thaler", depicting the Belgic Lion) in 1575, the latter of weight 27.68 g (427.2 grains) and 0.743 fineness. With the growing popularity of the Germanreichsthaler, however, theRepublic of the Seven United Netherlands had to follow up with their ownDutch rijksdaalder in 1583, of weight 29.03 g (448 grains) and 0.885 fineness, and featuring an armored half bust ofWilliam the Silent.Friesland,Gelderland,Holland,Kampen,Overijssel,Utrecht,West Friesland,Zeeland, andZwolle minted armored half bust rijksdaalders until the end of the 17th century.
The pace of depreciation of the small-denominationstuiver quickened from the 1570s, with the leeuwendaalder rising from 32 to 40 stuivers by 1619, and the rijksdaalder from 42 to 50 stuivers. TheAmsterdam Wisselbank was then founded in 1608 to establish a stablebank currency with the rijksdaalder of 29.03 g, 0.875 fine (or 25.4 g fine silver) fixed at 50 stuivers or 21⁄2gulden.
The bank's success helped theDutch Republic become Europe's financial center in the 17th century and maintain the reichsthaler as its banking currency unit despite Germany's descent into the chaos of theThirty Years' War. As a bullion entrepôt of the period, the Netherlands produced reichsthalers for Germany and Scandinavia, and exported leeuwendaalders to the Levant and theOttoman Empire. The latter survives to this day in the form of theBulgarian lev,Romanian leu, andMoldovan leu.[4][5][6]
Lion Daalders were used a lot in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and in what's now known as the USA. The city of New Amsterdam, currently New York, was founded by the Dutch in the early 17th century. "The Lion Daalder holds an important place in American history as America’s first dollar and the root of the word from where the current currency, the US Dollar, found its name."[1]
By the 18th century the Spanish-controlled Dutch territories eventually became theAustrian Netherlands. In 1754 it issued theKronenthaler of weight 29.45 g and 0.873 fineness, or 25.71 g fine silver. This coin was adopted by many South German states by the early 19th century.
The termdaalder continued to refer to 11⁄2gulden in currency even after the discontinuation of the 11⁄2 gulden or 30 stuiver piece in the 19th century.
Therijksdaalder was also known as the silver ducat, which is still minted for collectors in the Netherlands today.
The discovery of massive silver supplies inSpanish America in the 1530s enabled the massive minting of Spain'seight-real coin well into the 20th century, weighing 27.47 g, 0.9306 fine. Being of nearly identical weight to the German reichsthaler, British colonists in North America eventually called the Spanish coin the dollar, which became the model for theU.S. dollar and theCanadian dollar.
The rise of German and Spanish dollars in 16th century European trade lessened the demand for French silverfrancs andtestoons. In 1641 KingLouis XIII therefore introduced a newLouis d'Argent equal to theSpanish dollar and worth threelivres tournois, weighing 27.19 g and 0.917 fine. In 1726 France issued its own thaler coin, the silverécu of 6 livres with about 26.7 g fine silver; it would also find currency in Southern Germany and Switzerland as thelaubthaler. Finally, in 1795 theFrench franc was established, with the 5-franc coin of 25.0 g, 90% fine silver being closest in size to the thalers used elsewhere. The French franc system would be expanded to other countries in the advent of theLatin Monetary Union of 1865.
TheThirteen Cantons of theOld Swiss Confederacy and their Associates each minted their own coins, with most larger silver coins conforming to established German or French standards. Thaler and half thaler coins were minted by the cities ofZürich (1512),Bern, Lucerne, Zug, Basel, Fribourg,Solothurn, Schaffhausen,St. Gallen andGeneva.
TheReformed cities began to represent "city views" on the obverse of their thalers, as they did not have the option to represent either patron saint or ruling princes. The first city view thaler of Zürich was minted in 1651 (the so-calledVögelitaler).[7]
By the 18th century,Bern and many Western Swiss cantons adopted the Frenchécu orlaubthaler of 26.7 g fine silver as its most widely used thaler, valued at 4livres (francs) or 40batzen of Bern. In 1798 this system was adopted by theHelvetic Confederation with the first Swiss franc equal to1⁄4th an écu.
Eventual transition to this first new Swiss franc stalled in the 19th century while public preference shifted to the South German Kronenthaler of 25.71 g fine silver, valued at 3.9 francs or 39 batzen. In 1850 Switzerland established the modern-daySwiss franc at par with theFrench franc, with 40 Swiss francs exchanged for 7 kronenthaler. The five-franc coin of 25.0 g, 90% fine silver became the coin with the closest value to the different historical thalers.
The name thaler was introduced to Scandinavia asdaler. The first Swedishdaler coins were minted in 1534. The Norwegianspeciedaler was minted from 1560. Later Scandinaviandaler coins included theSwedish riksdaler (1604) and theDanish rigsdaler (1625). In the early 19th century, these countries introduced their modern currency based on thedaler unit. In Norway,speciedaler was chosen as the currency name in 1816.
These currencies in Denmark and Sweden were replaced by theDanish krone andSwedish krona in 1873, the new currencies introduced by theScandinavian Monetary Union. Norway joined the Monetary Union and introduced theNorwegian krone in 1876.
At the beginning of the 19th century the South German states valued theConventionsthaler at 2.4South German gulden, or 9.744 grams fine silver per gulden. Afterwards, however, they began to mint theKronenthaler valued at 2.7 gulden - hence a reduced fine silver content for the gulden at 9.52 g. In 1837, thePrussian thaler was fixed at 13⁄4South German gulden - hence 9.545 g fine silver per gulden.
TheNorth German thaler, valued at3⁄4 aConventionsthaler or 131⁄3 to aCologne Mark fine silver at the start of the 19th century, was revalued in the 1840s at par with thePrussian thaler, at 14 to a Mark, though with varying subdivisions. In 1857, theVereinsthaler worth 1North German thaler or 13⁄4South German gulden was adopted as the standard coin by most German states as well as in theHabsburg Empire. Vereinsthalers were issued until 1871 in Germany and 1867 in Austria.
Within the new German Empire, silver vereinsthaler coins remained unlimited legal tender at a value of 3German gold marks until 1908 when they were withdrawn and demonetized. Some old countermarked thalers circulated as emergency coinage in Germany during the inflationary period following its defeat in the First World War.
TheMaria Theresa thaler, the most famous example of theConventionsthaler minted from 1751, enjoyed a special role as trade currency and continued to be minted long after the death of Maria Theresa in 1780, with coins minted after her death always showing the year 1780.Francis Joseph of Austria declared it an official trade coinage in 1857 just before it lost legal tender status in Austria following issue of theVereinsthaler. The Maria Theresa taler became the de facto currency of theEthiopian Empire in the late 18th century, with theEthiopian birr introduced at par with this taler, and it continued to be in use into the 20th century in theHorn of Africa,Eastern Africa,India and throughout much of theArabian Peninsula.
Though various silver thaler coins were minted in most of Europe until the 1870s, these coins were more often counted in non-thaler currency units like Dutch or Austrian guilders, French francs, Spanish reales, etc. By the mid-19th century the thaler (or reichsthaler, rigsdaler) was still the currency unit used in theNorth German Confederation andScandinavia. By 1875 the thaler itself disappeared as currency unit in Europe upon adoption of thegold standard.
Nonetheless, use of the thaler as currency continued outside Europe in the form of theU.S. dollar and theCanadian dollar, theMexican peso and the various pesos ofSpanish America, and theEthiopian birr. The thaler (and its linguistic variants) would also survive as the informal name of coins identical to the historical coin like the German 3-mark coin, the Dutch 21⁄2-gulden coin, the 5-franc coins of the Latin Monetary Union (among them France, Belgium, Switzerland), and the Greek 5-drachma coin (τάληρο, taliro).
Thaler-sized coins minted to late-19th century standards would be minted until 1914 in Mexico and in most of Europe, until 1928 in Switzerland, and until 1934 in the United States. Henceforth thaler-sized silver coins would be minted as bullion or numismatic pieces, among them:
Unrelated to specific coins, the name of thethaler survives in various modern currency names, in the formdollar in twenty-three currencies used in countries including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United States of America, and also in theSamoan tālā and theSlovenian tolar (before adoption of the euro).
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