2 Thalers

Magdeburg's 2 Thaler of 1618 was struck at the precise moment the Thirty Years' War ignited — the Defenestration of Prague occurred that same year. The city would pay catastrophically for its Protestant allegiance. In May 1631, imperial and Liga forces under Tilly sacked Magdeburg in one of the war's most devastating atrocities, killing some 20,000 civilians and burning the city almost entirely to the ground. Municipal coinage effectively ceased.

Pieces from 1618 are consequently among the last issued under normal civic authority before decades of destruction and occupation disrupted the mint entirely.