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1/8 Thaler Bicentenary of the Reformation
| Issuer | Frankfurt, Free imperial city of |
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| Year | 1717 |
| Type | Commemorative circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Central device depicts an open Bible inscribed BIBLIA resting upon rocky outcroppings amid a turbulent sea, symbolizing the enduring foundation of the Evangelical faith. Above the book, bold radiating sunbeams emanate from an all-seeing eye enclosed within a triangle, representing divine Providence. The encircling Latin legend reads DOMINE: CONSERVA NOBIS LUMEN EVANGELII, separated by a rosette ornament at the top of the field. The composition is rendered in finely detailed relief, characteristic of early eighteenth-century German medallic work. |
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| Reverse description | The reverse bears an eight-line Latin commemorative inscription filling the entire field, with no border legend, set within a plain inner circle. The text records the celebration of the second Evangelical Jubilee on 31 October 1717 by the Senate of Frankfurt, and concludes with the engraver's initials I.I.F. The lettering is executed in bold, well-spaced Roman capitals in the style typical of early eighteenth-century German commemorative coinage. The coin's milled edge is clearly visible at the periphery. |
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| Additional information |
Frankfurt issued this piece in 1717 to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of Luther's posting of the Ninety-Five Theses — an event the Protestant cities of the Holy Roman Empire had particular reason to commemorate loudly. As a Free Imperial City with a mixed Lutheran and Reformed population, Frankfurt had navigated confessional tensions for two centuries by the time this coin was struck, and the Reformation centennials were as much political statements as religious ones.
The 1617 centenary had established a template for such issues across Protestant Germany; by 1717 the practice was well-institutionalized, with dozens of German states and cities producing Jubiläumsmünzen. Frankfurt's contribution in the eighth-thaler denomination placed it squarely in the affordable, widely-distributed tier of the series.