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1 Vereinsthaler - Frederick William IV
| Issuer | Kingdom of Prussia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1857-1861 |
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| Value | 1 Vereinsthaler = 1⁄30 Metric Pound |
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| Obverse description | Unadorned right-facing bust of Frederick William IV, King of Prussia, rendered in high relief with finely detailed hair and sideburns in the neoclassical portrait style. The effigy occupies the central field, truncated at the shoulder. The encircling legend reads FRIEDR. WILHELM IV KOENIG V. PREUSSEN, with the Berlin mint mark A positioned below the bust near the bottom of the field. The entire design is bordered by a continuous beaded rim. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The Prussian eagle displayed at center, depicted with wings spread, head turned to the right, breast adorned with the Hohenzollern scepter and orb crossed below, and a floral collar around the neck; the whole surmounted by a royal crown. The circumferential legend reads EIN VEREINSTHALER to the left and XXX EIN PFUND FEIN to the right, with the date of issue inscribed in the lower exergual area. A finely executed beaded border frames the entire composition. |
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| Additional information |
The Vereinsthaler was the product of the Vienna Coinage Treaty of 1857, which bound the German states and Austria to a unified silver standard intended to smooth commerce across dozens of borders. Prussia had already been producing Thalers of near-identical weight under earlier conventions, so the transition was largely administrative — the intrinsic change was modest, but the political symbolism of Prussian acquiescence to a pan-German monetary framework was not lost on contemporaries.
Frederick William IV was by 1857 increasingly incapacitated by a series of strokes, and his brother Wilhelm effectively governed as regent from 1858 onward. Coins bearing his name were struck into 1861, the year of his death.