1 Thaler - John Philip I, Frederick VIII, John William IV, and Frederick William II

This thaler commemorates the joint rule of four brothers — John Philip I, Frederick VIII, John William IV, and Frederick William II — who governed Saxe-Altenburg collectively following the 1602 partition of the Ernestine Saxon lands. Co-rulership among Ernestine heirs was a recurring administrative reality, driven by inheritance customs that resisted primogeniture well into the seventeenth century. The arrangement lasted only until John Philip I eventually consolidated sole authority after his brothers died without surviving male issue.