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2 Thalers - August William Death
| Issuer | Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Principality of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1731 |
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| Currency | Thaler (1499-1814) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The entire reverse field is occupied by a twelve-line funerary inscription in Latin, set within a plain field bordered by a reeded rim. The text records the birth date (8 March 1662), accession to power (1714), and death date (23 March 1731) of Duke August Wilhelm, employing the archaic CIO IOC notation for Millesimal dates. The inscription concludes with the epitaph PLACIDE QVIESCAT and the die-cutter's initials I . H . T . at the base. |
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| Additional information |
August William of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel died in March 1731, the last male of his line, extinguishing a cadet branch that had survived the consolidation pressures of the Holy Roman Empire for over a century. His death triggered an inheritance dispute that ultimately accelerated the absorption of Wolfenbüttel's territories into the broader Hanoverian orbit. Death thalers of this type — struck as commemorative mourning pieces rather than circulating currency — were standard practice among German Protestant courts, distributed to court officials and nobility as funerary keepsakes.
The Dav GT II reference places this squarely in the German Gedächtnis Thaler tradition, with the double-thaler format chosen to accommodate the extended Latin memorial inscription.