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1 Thaler - Frederick I Test of Alchemy
| Issuer | Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (German States) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1687 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 21.84 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | An elaborate alchemical and theological emblematic composition dominates the reverse. At the center, a six-pointed Star of David symbolizing the harmony of the four classical elements (air, fire, water, and earth) is encircled by three flames representing the Holy Trinity, the entire device surrounded by a wreath of radiating points and rays denoting divine clarity. Below, a phoenix rising from flames symbolizes transformation, renewal, and resurrection, holding in its beak a ring inscribed with the alchemical symbols for salt, sulfur, and mercury, signifying eternity and the prima materia. Mountains appear in the background, while the sun (symbolizing gold) is positioned to the right of the star and the crescent moon (symbolizing silver) to the left. The date GOT.1687 appears in the exergual area, with the circular Latin legend enclosing the entire design. |
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| Additional information |
Frederick I of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was an active patron of alchemical research, funding laboratory work at Gotha in the persistent seventeenth-century hope of transmuting base metals into silver and gold. This thaler was struck specifically from metal claimed to have been produced — or at least refined — through alchemical process, a practice the German courts called a Probationsthaler or trial piece. Whether the metal was genuinely of alchemical origin or simply repackaged refined silver was, then as now, largely unprovable.
Such pieces were minted as much for political theater as metallurgical proof, circulated among peer courts as demonstration of a duchy's scientific ambition.