1/2 Thaler - William IX Bieberer Ausbeute

Ausbeute coins — struck from ore mined at a specific operation and presented as proof of that mine's yield — occupy an unusual position in German state coinage. This piece commemorates production from the Bieber mines in the Spessart region, which Hesse-Cassel had worked intermittently since the sixteenth century. By William IX's reign the Bieber operation was in its later productive phase; output was declining, and Ausbeute issues from this period are correspondingly scarce.

The Müseler reference places it firmly within the specialist literature on German mining coinage, where Bieber issues are among the more modestly documented compared to the prolific Harz or Erzgebirge series.