Cool thaler design I hadn't seen before

lordmarcovan

Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel "Bell" thaler

It's probably old news to most of the rest of you, particularly Zohar, but I had never seen one of these before.

(I'm not buying the coin in the link- just thought it was a cool design, is all. Would love to see a higher grade example.)

brg5658

There have been four listed on eBay in the XF range for quite some time.

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

worldcoinguy

I love that design. The 'Bell talers' were 1 year types struck in 1643 to commemorate negotiations to end the war, later known as the Thirty Year War. To recognize the historical moment, the town's bells rang to celebrate the end of the war rejoice those who had survived. A total of 7 varieties (1st bell through 7th bell) were struck in the 1 taler denomination.

The history books might argue that the war still raged for another few years until 1648, but the taler commemorates the active negotiations which ultimately led to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. If you read up on the war, it is interesting to note that the total population of the german states was reduced by 15% to 30% and some regions such as Brandenburg lost over 50% of their population. Over 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages and 1,500 towns in Germany were destroyed.

EVillageProwler

And thus came the savior of the German people: the humble potato.

Zohar

wcg knows all about these.