1/2 Thaler - John George I

John George I ruled Saxony through the catastrophic middle decades of the Thirty Years' War, and his monetary policy was as tortured as his political navigation of the conflict. Saxony's mints were under enormous pressure throughout the 1630s and 1640s — the war disrupted silver supply from the Erzgebirge mines, inflated production costs, and the Kipper und Wipper debasement crisis of the preceding decade had already badly damaged public trust in Saxon coinage.

John George's long alliance with the Habsburgs, then his defection to France and Sweden under the Treaty of Kösen in 1645, created political instability that is effectively documented in the erratic mint output of these years.