Frederick William, the "Great Elector," spent much of 1685 absorbed by the Edict of Potsdam — his November response to Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which opened Brandenburg's borders to tens of thousands of Huguenot refugees. Small-denomination silver like this 1/24 Thaler circulated precisely among the artisan and merchant classes that Huguenot settlement was actively reshaping that year.
Frederick William, the "Great Elector," spent much of 1685 absorbed by the Edict of Potsdam — his November response to Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which opened Brandenburg's borders to tens of thousands of Huguenot refugees. Small-denomination silver like this 1/24 Thaler circulated precisely among the artisan and merchant classes that Huguenot settlement was actively reshaping that year.