1 Thaler - John Philip of Schönborn Zwittertaler

The Zwittertaler — literally "hybrid thaler" — is a mule struck from dies belonging to two different issuing authorities or coin types. This example, issued under John Philip of Schönborn shortly after the Peace of Westphalia ended thirty years of catastrophic warfare across the German lands, combines mismatched dies in what was almost certainly a deliberate mint decision rather than an error. Post-war Würzburg faced severe metal shortages and administrative disruption; reusing available dies from different series was an expedient solution with precedent across multiple German mints of the period.

John Philip held the sees of Würzburg, Mainz, and Worms simultaneously — a concentration of ecclesiastical power that made his mints unusually prolific in the late 1640s.