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1/2 Thaler Peace of Westphalia
| Issuer | Frankfurt, Free imperial city of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1648 |
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| Value | 1/2 Thaler |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The heraldic eagle of Frankfurt displayed with wings spread, head turned to the left, surmounted by an imperial crown above. The eagle is rendered in the elaborate baroque style typical of 17th-century German civic coinage, with finely engraved feather detail on the wings and body. The circumferential legend, reading NOMEN • DOMINI • TVRRIS • FORTISSIMA, encircles the eagle, with the date 1648 positioned at the top of the field above the crown, commemorating the Peace of Westphalia. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Frankfurt struck this half thaler to commemorate the Peace of Westphalia, the pair of treaties signed in Osnabrück and Münster in October 1648 that ended both the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War simultaneously. The city had direct stakes in the outcome — Frankfurt had served as an imperial coronation city and a major commercial hub throughout the conflict, and its trade networks had been repeatedly disrupted by troop movements and requisitioning across the Rhine corridor.
Commemorative issues of this type were struck by numerous German cities and princes in 1648, making Frankfurt's contribution one entry in a dense numismatic record of that diplomatic moment. The specific half thaler denomination placed this piece within reach of prosperous merchants rather than the highest nobility.