1/4 Thaler - Clemens August Death of the Grandmaster

Clemens August of Bavaria served simultaneously as Archbishop-Elector of Cologne and Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1732 until his death in February 1761 — a concentration of ecclesiastical and chivalric authority unusual even by 18th-century standards. This piece was struck as a memorial issue following that death, a practice the Order maintained for its Grand Masters. Clemens August had spent lavishly on his residences at Brühl and Augustusburg, leaving the Order's finances considerably strained by the time this coin was authorized.