Neuchâtel's status in 1714 was genuinely peculiar: a Swiss principality that had just passed, by decision of the local estates, to the King of Prussia — Frederick I having been awarded it in 1707, with Frederick William I inheriting on his father's death in February 1713. The canton remained nominally sovereign under Swiss protection while simultaneously belonging to the Hohenzollern crown, a constitutional oddity that lasted until 1848.
This thaler is among the earliest coinage struck in Frederick William I's name for Neuchâtel, issued in the first full year of his reign over the principality.
Neuchâtel's status in 1714 was genuinely peculiar: a Swiss principality that had just passed, by decision of the local estates, to the King of Prussia — Frederick I having been awarded it in 1707, with Frederick William I inheriting on his father's death in February 1713. The canton remained nominally sovereign under Swiss protection while simultaneously belonging to the Hohenzollern crown, a constitutional oddity that lasted until 1848.
This thaler is among the earliest coinage struck in Frederick William I's name for Neuchâtel, issued in the first full year of his reign over the principality.