Hieronymus von Colloredo was appointed Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in 1772 following a contentious conclave, and these thalers were struck in the same year he took office — essentially inauguration coinage. He is remembered less for his ecclesiastical reforms than for his treatment of a young court musician he employed: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart served under Colloredo's patronage and found it suffocating, eventually engineering a formal dismissal in 1781 that included, by Mozart's own account, a literal kick from the Archbishop's chief steward.
The Zöttl range spanning six catalog numbers reflects documented die variations across the type, not separate emission years.
Hieronymus von Colloredo was appointed Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in 1772 following a contentious conclave, and these thalers were struck in the same year he took office — essentially inauguration coinage. He is remembered less for his ecclesiastical reforms than for his treatment of a young court musician he employed: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart served under Colloredo's patronage and found it suffocating, eventually engineering a formal dismissal in 1781 that included, by Mozart's own account, a literal kick from the Archbishop's chief steward.
The Zöttl range spanning six catalog numbers reflects documented die variations across the type, not separate emission years.