1⁄24 Thaler - August Louis

Anhalt-Köthen was among the smallest and most financially precarious of the Saxon principalities, and by 1751 its coinage was being struck largely to meet local fiscal obligations rather than any broader circulation ambition. August Louis ruled the tiny principality from 1728 until his death in 1755, and his final years of coinage — this piece among them — reflect a court perpetually straining against debts accumulated during the War of Austrian Succession. Billon issues at this fractional denomination were workhorses, absorbed quickly by local markets and rarely preserved.