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1 Thaler - II György Rákóczi
| Issuer | Principality of Transylvania |
|---|---|
| Year | 1650-1656 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Thaler (1526-1780) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Armored half-length effigy of George II Rákóczi facing right, depicted in elaborately decorated plate armor with a ruff collar and a plumed hat. The prince holds a scepter in his right hand, with a sword pommel visible at his left side. The portrait is rendered in high relief in the Transylvanian Baroque hammered tradition, with fine detailing on the armor's ornamental engravings. A beaded inner border frames the design, with the Latin legend distributed around the periphery of the field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | · GEORG : RAKO : D : G : PRINC : TRA · |
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| Additional information |
György Rákóczi II inherited the Transylvanian throne in 1648 following his father's death, but his reign was defined by catastrophic overreach. His unauthorized 1657 invasion of Poland — launched without Ottoman approval, in violation of the suzerain relationship Transylvania had maintained with the Porte — ended in military disaster and triggered a decade of Ottoman punitive campaigns that effectively broke Transylvanian independence. These thalers predate that collapse, struck while the principality still functioned as a stable, silver-rich buffer state between Habsburg and Ottoman power.
The Nagybánya mint produced this type through the mid-1650s. Annual output fluctuated considerably depending on ore yields from the northeastern Hungarian mining districts under Rákóczi control.