1 Thaler - Rudolph Augustus & Anthony Ulrich Death of Rudolph Augustus

Rudolph Augustus, the elder of the two co-ruling dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, died in January 1704 after a reign defined largely by his deference to his younger brother Anthony Ulrich, who held the real political and cultural initiative between them. These death thalers — Sterbetaler in the German tradition — were struck as commemorative mourning pieces rather than circulating currency, a convention well established in the Brunswick mints by this period.

Anthony Ulrich would outlive his brother by nearly two decades, converting to Catholicism in 1710 to secure advantageous dynastic marriages for his grandchildren.