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1 Thaler
| Issuer | Kaufbeuren, City of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1542-1543 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Thaler |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Armored bust of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V facing right, wearing an elaborate suit of armor and an imperial crown, rendered in the robust style typical of mid-sixteenth-century German Thalers. The emperor holds an orb in his right hand and a scepter in his left, with fine engraving detail on the armored shoulders and chest. The effigy is contained within a beaded inner circle, with the circular Latin legend CAROLUS V D G ROM IMP SEMP AUG distributed around the periphery and separated by cross stops, abbreviating his full imperial title. The hammered flan shows characteristic irregular edges and slightly uneven strike pressure. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Kaufbeuren, a Free Imperial City in Swabia, issued thalers under rights granted by the Habsburg crown — a privilege jealously guarded by small civic mints acutely aware that such coinage authority legitimized their autonomy against encroaching territorial lords. The early 1540s fell squarely in the middle of the Schmalkaldic League's political challenge to Charles V, and Kaufbeuren was among the Protestant imperial cities navigating that tension while maintaining functional civic finances.
Davenport's German Talers I attribution places this among a handful of documented Kaufbeuren silver strikes, a series thin enough in surviving examples that auction appearances remain genuinely infrequent.