1 Guldiner - Maximilian I. Hall

The Guldiner — sometimes called the Groschen of Hall — is among the earliest large-denomination silver coins struck in the German-speaking world, and Maximilian's Hall mint issued the first of them in 1486, four years before the date range on this piece reflects his assumption of the archduchy. The coin exists because Maximilian needed a silver equivalent to the gold Gulden for large commercial transactions; the silver mines of the Tyrol, centered on Schwaz, made that ambition financially possible. Schwaz was at that moment the largest silver-producing operation in Europe, employing tens of thousands of workers.

This type is the direct typological ancestor of the Thaler series that would define European coinage for the next three centuries.