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1 Thaler - Frederick II
| Issuer | Hesse-Cassel |
|---|---|
| Year | 1765 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Armoured right-facing bust of Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Cassel, depicted in elaborate plate armour with a decorated pauldron and a star-tipped sash clasp visible at the truncation, his hair styled in loose curls in the fashion of the period. A periwig with rolled curls frames his profile, and the truncation of the bust is marked by a decorative scroll. The encircling Latin legend reads FRIDERICVS II D.G.HASS.LANDG.HAN.COM., identifying the ruler by name and title. The effigy is rendered in high relief with fine baroque detail, set against a smooth, open field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Frederick II of Hesse-Cassel is best remembered — or condemned — for leasing roughly 19,000 Hessian troops to the British Crown in 1776, a transaction that financed his court extravagantly while sending his subjects to die in the American Revolutionary War. The subsidy money funded construction at Wilhelmshöhe and filled the state treasury far beyond what normal taxation could achieve. This thaler predates that arrangement by a decade, struck during a period when Hesse-Cassel was still rebuilding financially after the Seven Years' War, which had ended just two years prior and left much of the electorate economically exhausted.