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1 Thaler - Georg Wilhelm
| Issuer | Liegnitz-Brieg, Duchy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1675 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 45 mm |
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| Obverse description | Armored bust of Duke Georg Wilhelm to right, wearing elaborately engraved plate armor with a lace cravat and long flowing hair. The effigy fills the majority of the field, rendered in high relief with fine detail on the armature and hair. The circumferential Latin legend reads GEORGIVS:WILHELM:D:G:DVX:SILESIAE around the portrait, separated by small star stops. The coin exhibits a milled border and a beaded inner ring framing the legend. |
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| Reverse description | The Silesian eagle displayed with wings spread, rendered in bold relief at the center of the field, with a cross on its breast and talons grasping foliate ornaments below. The date 1675 is divided to either side of the eagle's head, and a large ornate crown surmounts the composition above. The mintmaster initials C-B appear flanking the lower body of the eagle. The circumferential Latin legend LIGNICENSIS:BREGENSIS:ET:WOLAVIENSIS: runs around the periphery within a milled border and beaded inner ring. |
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| Additional information |
Georg Wilhelm was the last Piast duke of Liegnitz-Brieg, and this thaler was struck in the final year of his rule — not because he abdicated, but because he died without a male heir in 1675, triggering the immediate annexation of the duchy by Habsburg Austria under a lapsed inheritance treaty the Piasts had never fully accepted. The Habsburgs had been waiting on that clause for decades. With Georg Wilhelm's death, one of the longest-surviving dynastic lines in Silesian history was extinguished by paperwork rather than conquest.
Thalers of this final year carry particular documentary weight for collectors of Silesian coinage, as no issues followed under the ducal title.