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2 Thaler - Ferdinand III Breslau
| Issuer | Breslau Mint (Silesia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1643-1650 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Thalers |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Crowned and draped bust of Emperor Ferdinand III facing right, wearing an elaborate arched imperial crown with jeweled ornamentation and a cross finial, and richly decorated armour with ornate relief work visible across the chest and shoulders. The effigy is contained within a beaded inner circle, with the full Latin titular legend running in the surrounding field. The portrait is rendered in the Baroque style characteristic of mid-17th century Silesian coinage, with fine detail in the hair and collar. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Mintage | 1643 - - 1646 - - 1650 - - |
| Additional information |
Ferdinand III ruled as Holy Roman Emperor through the grinding final years of the Thirty Years' War, which ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 — a settlement that permanently restructured the religious and political map of Central Europe. Breslau, as the administrative capital of Habsburg Silesia, maintained its own mint with the authority to strike multiples, and the 2 Thaler was a prestige denomination rather than a workhorse of trade.
The Dav EC II reference places this squarely within the broader Emergency Coinage cataloguing framework for the period, though these pieces were not emergency issues in the crisis sense — they were deliberate large-format silver strikes for ceremonial and high-value exchange purposes. Survivors in any meaningful grade are uncommon; the weight alone made them targets for melting during subsequent monetary reorganizations.