⅙ Thaler - John William

John William, Elector Palatine and Duke of Jülich-Berg, died in June 1716 after years of deteriorating health, and his rule over Jülich-Berg had by 1710 become entangled in the broader War of the Spanish Succession — a conflict that strained mint output across the Rhineland considerably. The Jülich-Berg coinage of this period is notable partly because the duchy's succession was itself deeply contested; after John William died without legitimate heirs, the Jülich-Berg inheritance dispute between Brandenburg-Prussia and Palatinate-Neuburg had roots stretching back to the earlier Jülich-Cleves succession crisis of 1609.

KM#137 is not a common type in any grade, reflecting the limited and regionally confined nature of Rhenish fractional coinage in the early eighteenth century.