1/2 Thaler - Maximilian I

Maximilian I had been Elector of Bavaria for only a few years when this half thaler was struck, his electoral dignity secured in 1623 as direct payment for his military support during the opening phase of the Thirty Years' War — specifically for lending his Catholic League forces to crush the Protestant Union at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. The transfer of the electoral title from the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbachs to the Bavarian branch was one of the war's most consequential political settlements, and Munich's mints were busy throughout the 1620s producing coinage befitting a newly elevated court.

The Kipper und Wipper currency crisis of 1621–23 had badly debased coinage across the Empire just years before this piece was struck, making a well-composed silver half thaler something of a statement of fiscal seriousness.