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1/2 Thaler - Frederick William of Westfalen
| Issuer | Bishopric of Hildesheim |
|---|---|
| Year | 1764 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Draped bust of Friedrich Wilhelm von Westphalen, Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim, facing right, attired in an ermine-trimmed ecclesiastical mantle with a decorative brooch at the chest. The subject wears a powdered periwig with rolled curls, rendered in fine relief in the late Baroque style. A circular Latin legend surrounds the bust, reading FRID:GVIL:D:G:ARCHIEP:COL:S:R:I:P:EL:ET:EP:HILDES:, identifying the bishop by his titles. The portrait is boldly engraved with careful attention to the folds of the mantle and the texture of the fur trim. The field is smooth and unengraved. |
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| Mint | Hildesheim Mint |
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| Additional information |
The Bishopric of Hildesheim spent much of the eighteenth century navigating the competing pressures of Hanoverian expansion and Prussian ambition — a small ecclesiastical principality squeezed between larger secular powers. Frederick William of Westfalen, who governed as prince-bishop from 1763, issued this half thaler just a year into his tenure, almost certainly as part of a broader monetary reordering following the disruptions of the Seven Years' War, which had flooded the region with debased emergency coinage from multiple belligerents.
The Mehl Hild#701 designation places this piece within a well-documented but thinly traded series.