1⁄12 Thaler - Frederick William

Frederick William, the "Great Elector," spent much of the 1680s consolidating Brandenburg-Prussia's monetary system after decades of fragmentation left the electorate's coinage in near-chaos. The 1/12 Thaler denomination was a practical response to commerce — it divided evenly into the Reichsthaler without the rounding frictions that plagued smaller fractional issues of neighboring states. Frederick William died in 1688, making the upper bound of this type's production date coincide exactly with the end of his reign.