Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria and Master of the Teutonic Order, died in November 1618 — the same year this thaler was struck and the same year the Defenestration of Prague ignited the Thirty Years' War. Upper Alsace was an Austrian Habsburg possession administered through the Further Austrian territories, and thalers from this lordship are considerably scarcer than those of the main Austrian mints at Hall or Graz.
The multiple Klemm references suggest die variety distinctions within the 1618 emission — KLEM#66 and KLEM#68 are catalogued separately, likely differentiated by minor legend breaks or die-axis alignment.
Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria and Master of the Teutonic Order, died in November 1618 — the same year this thaler was struck and the same year the Defenestration of Prague ignited the Thirty Years' War. Upper Alsace was an Austrian Habsburg possession administered through the Further Austrian territories, and thalers from this lordship are considerably scarcer than those of the main Austrian mints at Hall or Graz.
The multiple Klemm references suggest die variety distinctions within the 1618 emission — KLEM#66 and KLEM#68 are catalogued separately, likely differentiated by minor legend breaks or die-axis alignment.