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2 Thalers - Frederick William I
| Issuer | Prussia, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1719 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | Armored bust of Frederick William I, King of Prussia, facing right, depicted to approximately one-third length, wearing elaborately detailed plate armor with shoulder pauldrons and gorget, with long flowing hair falling to the shoulders. The effigy is rendered in high relief with fine engraved detail on the cuirass. The encircling Latin legend reads FRID . WILH . D . G . REX . BORVSSIAE . EL . BRAND ., running clockwise along the raised outer border with a reeded rim. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The 1719 double thaler falls in the middle of Frederick William I's aggressive military buildup — the king who inherited a Prussian army of 38,000 and expanded it to over 80,000, funded partly by slashing court expenditure so severely that the Berlin palace staff was reduced to a skeleton crew. Large silver presentation-weight pieces from his reign were minted less for commerce than for diplomatic gifting and treasury display, which explains why survivors tend to appear in finer condition than their nominal face value would suggest warranted.
The Davenport reference GT II:2576A distinguishes this from closely related die pairings in the series — Olding FR#206A narrows it further within the Schröder classification.