Heinrich von Bobenhausen served as Administrator of the Teutonic Order from 1572, never formally elected Grand Master because the Order's Prussian branch had been secularized by Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1525 — a loss the Order never fully absorbed. By the 1570s the Order's territorial authority was largely confined to scattered German commanderies, and coinage like this Thaler was issued more to assert institutional continuity than from any practical monetary necessity.
Prokisch 31a distinguishes this variety within the short two-year emission window.
Heinrich von Bobenhausen served as Administrator of the Teutonic Order from 1572, never formally elected Grand Master because the Order's Prussian branch had been secularized by Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1525 — a loss the Order never fully absorbed. By the 1570s the Order's territorial authority was largely confined to scattered German commanderies, and coinage like this Thaler was issued more to assert institutional continuity than from any practical monetary necessity.
Prokisch 31a distinguishes this variety within the short two-year emission window.