Maximilian III Joseph inherited a Bavaria financially gutted by the War of Austrian Succession, during which his father Karl Albrecht had bankrupted the electorate chasing the imperial crown — briefly winning it as Charles VII in 1742, only to die in 1745 with little to show for the effort. The 2nd portrait thaler series was struck as the young elector worked to stabilize Bavarian finances under the shadow of that ruinous decade, negotiating the Treaty of Füssen with Maria Theresa in 1745 and gradually rebuilding solvency through the 1750s.
Davenport's classification separates this from the 1st portrait thalers by subtle changes to the bust treatment made at the Munich mint.
Maximilian III Joseph inherited a Bavaria financially gutted by the War of Austrian Succession, during which his father Karl Albrecht had bankrupted the electorate chasing the imperial crown — briefly winning it as Charles VII in 1742, only to die in 1745 with little to show for the effort. The 2nd portrait thaler series was struck as the young elector worked to stabilize Bavarian finances under the shadow of that ruinous decade, negotiating the Treaty of Füssen with Maria Theresa in 1745 and gradually rebuilding solvency through the 1750s.
Davenport's classification separates this from the 1st portrait thalers by subtle changes to the bust treatment made at the Munich mint.