3 Kreuzers - Franz I

Franz I ruled the Austrian Empire largely in the shadow of his wife Maria Theresa, who held the actual hereditary titles while Franz held the elected dignity of Holy Roman Emperor. These small billon kreuzers were struck across multiple Austrian mints during a period when the Habsburg treasury was still recovering from the War of Austrian Succession, which had ended in 1748 with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle — a settlement that cost Austria the wealthy province of Silesia to Frederick the Great permanently.