1 Thaler - Frederick August II

Frederick Augustus II of Saxony was also Augustus III of Poland, and 1757 placed him squarely in the catastrophe of the Seven Years' War. That year, Prussian forces under Frederick the Great occupied much of Saxony — including Dresden — and the Elector himself had fled to Warsaw. Saxon minting operations were severely disrupted, and Frederick the Great notoriously exploited captured Saxon dies and mint facilities to strike debased coins in the Elector's name, flooding the region with underweight silver to finance his own campaigns. Any thaler dated 1757 carrying legitimate Saxon authority was struck under extreme duress.