1/2 Thaler - William Ernest Bicentenary of the Reformation

The 1717 Reformation bicentenary was a major commemorative occasion across Lutheran German states, and Saxe-Weimar was among the most theologically invested of them — the duchy had been a stronghold of Lutheran orthodoxy since the Reformation itself, and Duke William Ernest was known for his intense personal piety, founding the so-called "Bible War" of 1710 through his insistence on mandatory scripture reading among his subjects. Several German courts struck commemorative issues that year; Saxe-Weimar's contribution to this numismatic outpouring sits among the better-documented examples, catalogued across four distinct references.