1 Thaler - Günther XLI

Günther XLI ruled Schwarzburg-Blankenburg as part of the fractured Schwarzburg comital house, which by the mid-sixteenth century had divided its territories so many times through inheritance partitions that individual lines controlled relatively modest holdings. The 1571 date places this thaler squarely within the period when the Kreis system and imperial monetary ordinances — particularly the Reichsmünzordnung of 1559 — were pressing smaller German lords to conform to standardized thaler weights, though enforcement across hundreds of minor issuing authorities remained inconsistent.

Davenport's GT I attribution confirms its place in the broader German thaler series, but surviving examples from this specific comital line are infrequently encountered at auction.