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¼ Thaler - Anthony Günther I
| Issuer | Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (German States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1666 |
| Type | Commemorative circulation coin |
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| Reverse description | Eight lines of Latin and German funerary inscription filling the central field, recording the birth of Count Anthony Günther at Ebeleben on 9 January 1620 and his death at Sondershausen on 19 August 1666 at the fifth hour of the evening, having lived 46 years, 7 months, and 10 days. The inscription is enclosed within an elegant laurel wreath tied at the base, rendered in high relief with naturalistic foliage. The outer legend, disposed around the wreath, bears the personal motto PRO ARIS ET FOCIS preceded by SYMB, referencing the count's devotion to hearth and altar. |
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| Mint | Sondershausen, Germany |
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| Additional information |
Anthony Günther I ruled Schwarzburg-Sondershausen through one of the most turbulent stretches of German history, having survived the Thirty Years' War — which ended just eighteen years before this piece was struck — watching the population of his territories decimated and the regional economy gutted. The 1666 issue belongs to a post-war recovery phase when many minor German princes resumed asserting coinage rights partly as an economic signal, partly as naked sovereignty display against a backdrop of ongoing territorial disputes within the fractured Empire.
The KM#81 attribution places this among a small cluster of Thaler fractions from his reign with limited surviving examples across major collections. Fischer Sc#270 and Bethe#663 cross-references confirm the type but do little to clarify original mintage volumes, which remain undocumented.