1 Thaler - Frederick I

Frederick I had himself crowned King *in* Prussia in 1701 — carefully avoiding "King *of* Prussia" to sidestep a direct challenge to Polish suzerainty over Royal Prussia. The distinction mattered diplomatically, and the title carried on coinage throughout his reign. These thalers were struck at the Berlin mint under mintmaster Johann Ritter, whose mark appears on the piece.

Frederick died in February 1713, just as his successor Frederick William I was already dismantling the extravagant court machinery that had defined the reign — including the very ceremonial expenditures these fine silver issues were partly meant to project.