2 Thalers

Strasbourg occupied an awkward position in 1616 — a free imperial city nominally under Habsburg suzerainty but fiercely protective of its Lutheran civic identity, just three years before the Thirty Years' War would make that tension catastrophic. Large civic multiples of this type were rarely struck for circulation; they functioned as presentation pieces and diplomatic gifts, their considerable silver content a deliberate statement of municipal wealth and independence.

The Davenport CCT reference places this among the documentation of crown-sized and larger German thalers compiled specifically because pieces like this fell outside standard series — one-off or very limited civic strikes tied to specific occasions rather than monetary need.