Thaler

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Thaler (disambiguation).
Four thalers and one double thaler, compared to a U.S. quarter (bottom center): Clockwise from top left: Saxe-Altenburg 1616 (reverse), Saxony 1592, Austria 1701 (obverse), Saxony 1592 (obverse), Center: double thaler, Austria 1635 (obverse).

A thaler or taler (

1 ounce). The word is shortened from Joachimsthaler, the original thaler coin minted in Joachimsthal, Bohemia
, from 1520.

While the first standard coin of the

Cologne 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-valued North German thaler currency unit emerged, which by the 19th century became par with the Vereinsthaler
.

The thaler silver coin type continued to be minted until the 20th century in the form of the

numismatic 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.

Etymology

German taler is recorded from the 1530s, as an abbreviation of Joachimstaler. The silver mines at Joachimstal had opened in 1516, and the first such coins were minted there in 1518. The original spelling was taler (so Alberus 1540). German -taler means "of the valley" (cf. Neanderthaler). By the late 16th century, the word was variously spelled as German taler, toler, thaler, thaller; Low German daler, dahler. In 18th to 19th-century German orthography, Thaler became standard, changed to Taler in the 1902 spelling reform.

The name taler, thaler was soon used in compounds denoting various types of silver coins of thaler size, thus

Schützentaler
, Bankthaler, Speciethaler, etc.

Units used in the Netherlands include the daalder, the rijksdaalder and the leeuwendaalder. From 1754, many German states used the Conventionsthaler as well as a lower-valued North German thaler or Reichsthaler worth 3⁄4 the Conventionsthaler. From 1840 the various North German thalers converged to the value of the Prussian thaler and afterwards the Vereinsthaler.

The corresponding English silver coin of the period was the crown. The Low German word was adopted in English as daler by 1550, modified to dollar by about 1600.[1] English thaler was introduced in the first half of the 19th century to refer to the coins of the German states, as the word dollar was increasingly understood to refer to the United States dollar.

Predecessors

The 1486 Guldengroschen (obverse)

The development of large silver coins is an innovation of the beginning

Early Modern period
. The largest medieval silver coins were known as groat (German Groschen), from denarius grossus or "thick penny". These rarely exceeded a weight of 6 grams.

Even these coins were increasingly debased due to the Great 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 importing spices, 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 in Groschen-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 the

Archduke Sigismund of Tirol
issued the first truly revolutionary silver coin, the half 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 at Schwaz—to work with and his mint at Hall, Sigismund issued, in 1486, large numbers of the first true thaler-sized coin, the Guldengroschen ("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 the Renaissance 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).

Joachimsthaler

See also: Tolar
Obverse
Reverse
Electrotype copy of a 1525 Joachimsthaler of the Kingdom of Bohemia. The obverse side pictures St Joachim, the reverse side features the Bohemian Lion and the name of
Louis II
.

By 1518, guldiners of similar weight to guldengroschen were popping up everywhere in central Europe. In the

Bohemian 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 the Tsardom of Russia, where they were called yefimok (ефимок) – a distortion of the name Joachim.

Holy Roman Empire

Further information: Reichsthaler, North German thaler, and Conventionsthaler

The new large silver coins that became ubiquitous as the 16th century went on were named Thaler in German, while in England and France, they were named crown and écu, respectively, both names taken from what had originally been

eight real coin, later also known as peso and in English as the "Spanish dollar
".

The first large silver coin standardized by the

Cologne Mark of silver or 29.232 g, and had a fineness 0.9375. However, its longest-lasting standard coin was the Reichsthaler
("imperial thaler") defined in 1566 as containing 1⁄9th a Cologne Mark of fine silver, or 25.984 g. It was widely adopted and produced for the next 300 years at rates varying from 9 to 91⁄4 Reichsthalers to the Mark.

See the chronology of thaler development for the development of the Reichsthaler and related currency units from 1566 to 1875. Confusingly, there also was defined a North German thaler currency (also called Reichsthalers) of less value to the standard Reichsthaler specie coin; this thaler was worth 12 to a Mark after 1690, 131⁄3 to a Mark after 1754, and 14 to a Mark (the Prussian thaler) by the 1840s. Furthermore, in 1754 a Conventionsthaler was developed by the Austrian Empire minted at 10 to a Mark of fine silver. While it was adopted by most German states, Scandinavia and a few North German states retained the original Reichsthaler specie of 91⁄4 to a Mark as their standard coin until 1875.

City view thalers and lösers

Half portugalöser (five ducats) minted in Hamburg, 1679

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 the

Nürnberg
1631). The type continues to be popular throughout the 18th century, culminating in detailed city panoramas rendered in one-point perspective.

In the late 16th and 17th centuries, there was a fashion of oversized thaler coins, the so-called "multiple thalers", often called

Duchy 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 name Löser most likely was derived from a large gold coin minted in Hamburg called the portugalöser, 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.

Dutch Republic

See also: Dutch guilder § History
  • leeuwendaalder or lion thaler, 1660
    leeuwendaalder or lion thaler, 1660
  • Dutch rijksdaalder, 1622
    Dutch rijksdaalder, 1622
  • Maria Theresa Kronenthaler, 1770, showing the Burgundian Cross with 4 crowns
    Maria Theresa Kronenthaler, 1770, showing the Burgundian Cross with 4 crowns

The

Utrecht, West Friesland, Zeeland, and Zwolle
minted armored half bust rijksdaalders until the end of the 17th century.

The pace of depreciation of the small-denomination

bank currency with the rijksdaalder of 29.03 g, 0.875 fine (or 25.4 g fine silver) fixed at 50 stuivers or 21⁄2 gulden
.

The bank's success helped the Dutch 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 the Thirty Years' War. As a bullion entrepôt of the period, the Netherlands produced reichsthalers for Germany and Scandinavia, and exported leeuwendaalders to the Levant and the Ottoman Empire. The latter survives to this day in the form of the Bulgarian lev, Romanian leu, and Moldovan 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 the Austrian Netherlands. In 1754 it issued the Kronenthaler 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 term daalder continued to refer to 11⁄2 gulden in currency even after the discontinuation of the 11⁄2 gulden or 30 stuiver piece in the 19th century.

The rijksdaalder was also known as the silver ducat, which is still minted for collectors in the Netherlands today.

Spain and France

See also: Spanish dollar and French franc
The Spanish 8-real coin or dollar
1 écu 1784

The discovery of massive silver supplies in

U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar
.

The rise of German and Spanish dollars in 16th century European trade lessened the demand for French silver francs and testoons. In 1641 King Louis XIII therefore introduced a new Louis d'Argent equal to the Spanish dollar and worth three livres tournois, weighing 27.19 g and 0.917 fine. In 1726 France issued its own thaler coin, the silver écu of 6 livres with about 26.7 g fine silver; it would also find currency in Southern Germany and Switzerland as the laubthaler. Finally, in 1795 the French 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 the Latin Monetary Union of 1865.

Switzerland

See also: Swiss franc § History
French écu or laubthaler stamped "40 BZ" (batzen) in Bern became 4 francs under the Helvetic Republic
40 batzen minted in Zurich, 1813

The

Thirteen Cantons of the Old 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 of Zürich (1512), Bern, Lucerne, Zug, Basel, Fribourg, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen and Geneva
.

The

Reformed 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-called Vögelitaler).[7]

By the 18th century,

Helvetic Confederation
with the first Swiss franc equal to 1⁄4th 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-day Swiss franc at par with the French 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.

Scandinavia

See also:
Norwegian speciedaler, and Swedish riksdaler

The name thaler was introduced to Scandinavia as daler. The first Swedish daler coins were minted in 1534. The Norwegian speciedaler was minted from 1560. Later Scandinavian daler coins included the

speciedaler
 was chosen as the currency name in 1816.

These currencies in Denmark and Sweden were replaced by the Danish krone and Swedish krona in 1873, the new currencies introduced by the Scandinavian Monetary Union. Norway joined the Monetary Union and introduced the Norwegian krone in 1876.

19th-century Germany

See also: South German gulden, Kronenthaler, and Vereinsthaler
German 5 Mark coin (1888)

At the beginning of the 19th century the South German states valued the Conventionsthaler at 2.4 South German gulden, or 9.744 grams fine silver per gulden. Afterwards, however, they began to mint the Kronenthaler valued at 2.7 gulden - hence a reduced fine silver content for the gulden at 9.52 g. In 1837, the Prussian thaler was fixed at 13⁄4 South German gulden - hence 9.545 g fine silver per gulden.

The

Cologne Mark fine silver at the start of the 19th century, was revalued in the 1840s at par with the Prussian thaler, at 14 to a Mark, though with varying subdivisions. In 1857, the Vereinsthaler worth 1 North German thaler or 13⁄4 South German gulden was adopted as the standard coin by most German states as well as in the Habsburg 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 3

German 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.

The

Eastern Africa, India and throughout much of the Arabian Peninsula
.

Legacy

Further information: Bullion coin § Silver
Swiss 5 francs coin
, 25.0 grams, 90% silver

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 the North German Confederation and Scandinavia. By 1875 the thaler itself disappeared as currency unit in Europe upon adoption of the gold standard.

Nonetheless, use of the thaler as currency continued outside Europe in the form of the

U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar, the Mexican peso and the various pesos of Spanish America, and the Ethiopian 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:

  • The Maria Theresa thaler trade coin
  • Modern silver commemorative Talers minted in German-speaking Europe; e.g. the Swiss
    Schützentaler
    , the Swiss Helvetia-Taler, and the Austrian Haller-Taler.
  • The American Silver Eagle, which at 1 troy ounce (31 g) fine silver is actually heavier than the original silver dollar.

Unrelated to specific coins, the name of the thaler survives in various modern currency names, in the form dollar in twenty-three currencies used in countries including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United States of America, and also in the Samoan tālā and the Slovenian tolar (before adoption of the euro).

Chronology of thaler development

Further information: Reichsthaler, North German thaler, and Conventionsthaler
Austrian Vereinsthaler (1855)

See also
  • Ausbeutetaler

References

  1. ^ Christian Ludwig, Teutsch-Englisches Lexicon (1789), c.448 gives dollar, doller as the English translation of Thaler.
  2. ^ Year: 1620–1621; Composition: Silver; Weight: 28,4 gram; Diameter: 42 mm - https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces94533.html
  3. ^ Gold medallic portugalöser (10 ducats)
  4. ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com.
  5. ^ "Production of the Leeuwendaalder". www.coins.nd.edu.
  6. ^ "Lion Dollar – Introduction". www.coins.nd.edu.
  7. ^ Künker Auktion 316, Numismatischer Verlag Künker (2019), 282.
  8. ^ MAIN reference: German monetary system. p. 360–393.

Books

  • Duve, Gebhard (1966). HISTORY OF THE REDEEMABLE, MULTIPLE AND MINING TALERS OF BRUNSWICK-LUNEBERG. Johannseburg: Duve.

External links

  • Media related to Thaler at Wikimedia Commons
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