1 Thaler - William Frederick

William Frederick ruled Brandenburg-Ansbach from 1703 until his death in 1723, a period defined largely by his uncomfortable position between Hohenzollern family loyalty and the pressures of imperial politics during the War of the Spanish Succession. The multiple Davenport references — 1976, 1976A, and 1976B — reflect known die variations within this single year's production, a characteristic of small princely mint output where individual die pairs were cut by hand and replaced irregularly rather than standardized across a run.

Ansbach maintained its own mint at this period despite the margraviate's modest size, a privilege jealously guarded by minor German princes as one of the few tangible expressions of independent authority.