Further Austria - 1805 VI Shilling

elverno

These are actually pretty common, at least I see them quite a bit. The crud on the reverse is something I wish I knew how to clean without affecting the toning (such as it is). This is from the Gunzburg mint. Someone out there must know why they called it Further Austria. (The Outback?) It's part of Germany now I think.

Philip

I think Voerderosterreich was the name of certain lands in Swabia (Wurttemberg) possessed by Austria. I have no idea if Hall is further away from mainland Austria than Voerderosterreich, but in any case the territory is not "native" to Austria.

spoon

^ That's what I was thinking.. I have no idea of course if that's the right strip of land. But the territories Austria owned in Wurttemburg were in the southern, eastern areas, closer to Bodensee (there may have been smaller areas up north too tho).. Hall is NE of Stuttgart and never was Austrian. I'm foggy as to the dates when they actually owned any of it, though.

spoon

And.. btw, another awesome coin!

What's on the top-left shield there? If it's antlers then it probably is their Wurttemburg territory.

spoon

Ah, it is.. just found this footnote in the background:

3 The Black Forest was located across from the Rhine River and includes Breisgau and the territories in Wurttemberg. The Vorderosterreich government was established in the Black Forest. During the Thirty Years War, control of the Black Forest had strategic implications, since it allowed one to control the military and trade routes. Partly because of this strategic location, the Hapsburgs were able to keep German feudal lords under direct control. “Black Forest,” The New Cambridge Modern History (Cambridge, University Press, 1970), vol. IV: The Decline of Spain and the Thirty Years War: 1609-1659, p. 504.

Philip

Thank you for the information. I thought that Hall was Austrian because many Austrian coins were minted there.

spoon

You know what?! I'm dumb. I thought you were talking about Schwabisch Hall. That's the one near Stuttgart, in BaWu, and where the handlein heller comes from, giving Heller coins their name. But one of the main Austrian mints was indeed Hall. But this is the one near Innsbruck!

elverno

<< <i>What's on the top-left shield there? If it's antlers then it probably is their Wurttemburg territory. >>



Here's a link to a larger pic of the obverse. It's still tough in the large pic to tell the exact item on the northwest shield. Thanks for the info and the kind words guys. Did I get the mint wrong? No books here but that means I put the wrong info on my site too. Sigh...

spoon

No, I think the mint is correct. A quick google of "Gunzburg mint" turned up a bunch of mentions regarding it and Maria Theresa talers.. I didn't read through any of them but some page might mention provincial (?) coins.

Gunzburg is on A8 just west of Ulm, which would put it in Bavaria? I was sure the Austrian possessions were in southern Wurttemburg? Hmm.. what happened to JamminJ and all our Austrian experts