Ferdinand II of Tyrol ruled Upper Alsace as part of his broader Habsburgs holdings, governing from Innsbruck while the Alsatian territories were administered through the Ensisheim chancellery. These thalers were struck at Ensisheim, the Habsburg administrative capital of Further Austria, during a period when Ferdinand was actively accumulating one of the great Renaissance Kunstkammer collections — funding it in part through revenues from his Tirolean silver mines, the same ore supply that fed these coins.
The "var" designation against MT#572 is worth noting before purchase. Ensisheim production across this eleven-year window shows meaningful die variation, and not all examples carry identical titulature or armorial arrangements.
Ferdinand II of Tyrol ruled Upper Alsace as part of his broader Habsburgs holdings, governing from Innsbruck while the Alsatian territories were administered through the Ensisheim chancellery. These thalers were struck at Ensisheim, the Habsburg administrative capital of Further Austria, during a period when Ferdinand was actively accumulating one of the great Renaissance Kunstkammer collections — funding it in part through revenues from his Tirolean silver mines, the same ore supply that fed these coins.
The "var" designation against MT#572 is worth noting before purchase. Ensisheim production across this eleven-year window shows meaningful die variation, and not all examples carry identical titulature or armorial arrangements.