20 Kreuzers - Hieronymus von Colloredo

Hieronymus von Colloredo became Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in 1772 — the same year this coin was struck — after a contentious conclave in which he was elected on the final ballot. He proved a committed Josephinist reformer, suppressing religious holidays, restructuring the clergy, and making an enemy of nearly everyone in the process, including his own court musician Leopold Mozart, whose son Wolfgang resigned from Colloredo's service in 1781 after years of mutual contempt. The archbishopric's coinage output in his early years was substantial, reflecting an administration determined to assert institutional control.