Franz I ruled the Austrian Empire largely in the shadow of his wife, Maria Theresa, who held the actual Habsburg hereditary titles and exercised dominant political authority. Franz held the elected title of Holy Roman Emperor from 1745, and these thalers — struck across the Burgundian Circle mints as well as Vienna and Hall — were among the first imperial coinage to carry his name as Emperor rather than merely as consort. The pairing of his name with imperial authority on silver coinage was a deliberate assertion of dynastic legitimacy for the new House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Davenport's EC III attribution places this firmly within the early post-Pragmatic Sanction coinage series.
Franz I ruled the Austrian Empire largely in the shadow of his wife, Maria Theresa, who held the actual Habsburg hereditary titles and exercised dominant political authority. Franz held the elected title of Holy Roman Emperor from 1745, and these thalers — struck across the Burgundian Circle mints as well as Vienna and Hall — were among the first imperial coinage to carry his name as Emperor rather than merely as consort. The pairing of his name with imperial authority on silver coinage was a deliberate assertion of dynastic legitimacy for the new House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Davenport's EC III attribution places this firmly within the early post-Pragmatic Sanction coinage series.