1/2 Kreuzer - Joseph I Graz

Joseph I inherited the Habsburg throne in 1705 amid the War of the Spanish Succession, and the Graz mint was kept busy supplying the lower denominations that funded day-to-day military logistics in the Austrian hereditary lands. The half kreuzer was the coin most likely to change hands in a market stall or soldiers' camp — and most likely to be lost in the mud shortly after. Joseph died of smallpox in April 1711 at thirty-two, abruptly ending this short run of issues from Graz and triggering a dynastic crisis that ultimately brought his brother Charles from Spain to Vienna.