2 Thalers - Mihály Apafi

Mihály Apafi was installed as Prince of Transylvania in 1661 under direct Ottoman pressure — the Turks had effectively handpicked him after crushing the previous claimant, János Kemény, at the Battle of Nagyszőlős. Apafi's early coinage, this piece among it, was struck under conditions of extreme political dependency, with Ottoman suzerainty dictating the limits of Transylvanian autonomy more tightly than at almost any prior point in the principality's history.

The 1662 date places this coin in the first full year of his reign, before the administrative apparatus had fully stabilized. Two-thaler strikes of this period are large presentation-grade issues, produced in limited numbers and not intended for everyday commerce.