Albertustaler

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Back of an Albertus thaler
St. Andrew's cross on an Albertus thaler from 1631

The Albertust (h) aler is a type of taler coin that was first minted in the Spanish Netherlands at the turn of the 17th century . The name comes from the then governor in the Netherlands, Albrecht VII von Habsburg (French Albert ). The Albertustaler was issued a little more easily than the official German Reichsmünzfuß for the taler.

The coin, which contains around 24.65 g of fine silver (around 9½ thalers per weight mark ), was very popular in the Dutch Baltic Sea trade and was the main trade coin in the Baltic Sea region in the 17th century. Their popularity led to a rating on par with thalers, which were minted according to the 9 thaler Reichsfuß (25.98 g fine silver). There was therefore a strong displacement of full-value Reichstaler by Albertustaler (see Gresham's law ). Because the exchange rate in northern Germany was generally based on these so-called bank totals , the Lower Saxon estates decided on July 16, 1695 in Hamburg to mint even according to this somewhat lighter standard .

Original Albertustaler (Spanish Netherlands)

Portrait of Albert and Isabella on a ducaton from 1618 similar to the Albertustaler

The original Albertus thalers have on one side the Burgundian coat of arms with the inscription: “Albertus et Elisabeth DG Archiduc. Austr. Duces Castle. Bra. Z ". On the other side are the large Burgundian St. Andrew's Cross and the Golden Fleece with the inscription "Pace et iustitia".

According to von Schrötter , the governors Albert and his wife Isabella had an 18 patard or sol piece minted for the first time in 1612 . The background was the strong influx of silver at the time. These Albertus thalers had the St. Andrew's cross on one side and the Spanish coat of arms on the other. The Spanish troops called the coin "Patagon". The Albertustaler were minted in the Spanish Netherlands until the end of Spanish rule. H. until approx. 1700. The Albertustaler was replaced in the Spanish Netherlands from 1755 by the Kronentaler (silver crown).

United Netherlands

Albertus thalers were minted in the United Netherlands from 1659 to 1802. The official name was silver ducat . The silver ducat showed a Dutch lion coat of arms on one side and a standing man in armor on the other.

Spread

For the Baltic and Baltic Sea trade ( Turkey , Poland, Russia ) the Albertustaler was an important internationally recognized means of payment in the 18th century. In Livonia , Courland and Semigallia , business transactions were calculated in Albertus talers until 1810.

Embossing:

The Burgundian cross appears on all these coins.

Small coins

Whole, half, quarter and eighth pieces of the original Albertus thaler were struck at the same rate.

80 Ferding , previously a silver coin in Riga , resulted in a 1 Albertusthaler; 1 Ferding was 6 pfennigs Prussian.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Brockhaus Bilder-Conversations-Lexikon, Volume 1, Leipzig 1837, p. 42.
  2. ↑ a b c Pierer's Universal Lexicon, Volume 1. Altenburg 1857, p. 267.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Friedrich Frhr. v. Schrötter: dictionary of coinage. 2nd, unchanged edition. De Gruyter, Berlin 1970, p. 18.
  4. ↑ Walter Haupt: Saxon coinage. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974, p. 169.
  5. ^ Pierer's Universal Lexikon, Volume 9, Altenburg 1860, p. 837.
  6. ^ Pierer's Universal Lexikon, Volume 6, Altenburg 1858, p. 194.