1 Thaler 'Reisetaler' - August

The "Reisetaler" — literally "travel thaler" — was struck to commemorate Duke August the Younger's journey, a tradition among German princes of issuing coins to mark significant personal or political travels. August, who ruled Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1635 until his death in 1666, was one of the great bibliophiles of the seventeenth century; his personal library at Wolfenbüttel became the foundation of the Herzog August Bibliothek, still extant today. The 1650 date places this issue squarely in the aftermath of the Peace of Westphalia, which had ended thirty years of devastating war across the German lands just two years prior.

The KM#447.3 designation reflects a die variant within a small family of related Reisetaler issues, distinguished by subtle differences in the reverse inscription spacing.