1 Thaler - Henry VI Burial

Henry VI of Reuss-Greiz died in 1697, and this thaler was struck the following year as a memorial issue — a practice common among the smaller German principalities, where funeral coins served both dynastic and diplomatic functions, distributed at graveside ceremonies to assembled nobility and recorded in court inventories. The Reuss lines were notorious for naming virtually every male heir Heinrich, numbered sequentially across all branches, which creates persistent confusion in the literature; this particular Henry was of the elder line at Greiz.

Dav. 7306 places it firmly in the Stolberg-type funeral thaler tradition. Surviving examples in collectible condition are scarce — production was intentionally limited and the coins were often preserved rather than spent, yet attrition over three centuries has thinned the available population considerably.