1 Thaler - Günther XL

Günther XL ruled Schwarzburg-Blankenburg and was among the earliest of the Schwarzburg counts to embrace Lutheran reform, bringing the county into the Protestant fold during the critical decade when the Schmalkaldic League was consolidating power against Charles V. This thaler was struck just three years before that conflict erupted into open war. The Schwarzburg counts had minting rights confirmed under the imperial system, but issues from this minor Thuringian territory in the 1540s were produced in small quantities and rarely traveled far from regional circulation.