1/2 Thaler Centenary of the Reformation

Struck to mark the centenary of Luther's 1517 posting of the Ninety-Five Theses, this piece was issued by Strasbourg at a moment when the city had been a Reformed stronghold for nearly a century — Bucer had established Protestantism there by the 1520s, giving the city a particular stake in the commemoration. Dozens of Protestant German states and cities issued medallic pieces for the 1617 jubilee; Strasbourg's contribution is among the more carefully executed municipal issues from that wave.

The Whiting collection reference places it firmly in the recognized canon of Reformation centenary pieces, a series that attracted serious collector attention as early as the eighteenth century.