¼ Thaler - Ferdinand II of Tyrol

Ferdinand II ruled Tyrol and the Further Austrian territories — including Upper Alsace — as Archduke from 1564 until his death in 1595. He was a committed Catholic, an enthusiastic patron of the arts, and the builder of Schloss Ambras, but his administration of the Further Austrian lands was often conducted at arm's length from Innsbruck. Upper Alsace sat at a strategically awkward junction between the Swiss Confederacy, the Duchy of Lorraine, and the French sphere, making reliable silver coinage a political as much as an economic necessity.

The .875 fineness aligns with Habsburgs' broader effort to standardize fractional silver across their fragmented western holdings in the decade following the 1559 Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis.