3 Guldengroschen 'Joachimsthaler'

The Joachimsthaler takes its name from the Schlick family's silver mines at Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where ore deposits of unusual richness allowed the counts to strike large silver pieces on a scale no German territorial lord had managed before. This 3 Guldengroschen is among the earliest and heaviest of those issues — a triple-weight piece at a moment when the monetary system had no settled place for it.

The word "thaler" — and ultimately "dollar" — derives directly from coins struck in this valley. The Schlicks lost control of the mines to the Habsburgs in 1528, ending their brief but consequential run as independent monetary actors.