1 Thaler - Frederick William Victory

This thaler commemorates the Battle of Fehrbellin, June 1675, where Frederick William — the Great Elector — routed a Swedish force roughly twice the size of his own. The victory ended Swedish military dominance in northern Germany and established Brandenburg-Prussia as a serious power in its own right. It was a genuinely surprising outcome; most European courts had expected Sweden to brush aside the Brandenburger advance.

Commemorative thalers of this type were struck as diplomatic and propaganda instruments as much as currency. Fehrbellin remained a touchstone in Hohenzollern mythology for the next two centuries.