Bishop Ulrich von Waldstein died in 1622, and this half-thaler commemorates his passing — a funerary issue typical of German ecclesiastical minting practice in the early Thirty Years' War period, when bishops still exercised independent striking rights despite the spreading chaos. The Bishopric of Cammin, a Protestant diocese in Pomerania, was already under considerable political pressure; Swedish intervention in the war would eventually bring the region under Gustavus Adolphus's sphere within a decade, effectively ending meaningful episcopal autonomy there.
The Davenport supplemental designation A7243 suggests this variety was identified after the primary cataloging pass — not uncommon for low-mintage memorial issues from minor German states.
Bishop Ulrich von Waldstein died in 1622, and this half-thaler commemorates his passing — a funerary issue typical of German ecclesiastical minting practice in the early Thirty Years' War period, when bishops still exercised independent striking rights despite the spreading chaos. The Bishopric of Cammin, a Protestant diocese in Pomerania, was already under considerable political pressure; Swedish intervention in the war would eventually bring the region under Gustavus Adolphus's sphere within a decade, effectively ending meaningful episcopal autonomy there.
The Davenport supplemental designation A7243 suggests this variety was identified after the primary cataloging pass — not uncommon for low-mintage memorial issues from minor German states.